Editor's comment: happy 70th birthday?

I have the great pleasure of being in the Frontline editor’s chair for the next few months. I have been writing about health and social care for, gulp, three decades. While there was never a time that the newspapers and TV were not full of ‘new hopes’ or ‘fresh fears’ stories,  the 24-hour rolling news/social media leviathan of 2018 now has a grip on the Bevan-Beveridge baby like a croc at a waterhole. 

 

And that constant drip of negative headlines about shortages, waiting lists and untoward deaths affects patients and staff – believe me I know your pain – my wife has been an NHS nurse for over 25 years.

 

But away from the media maelstrom, this issue celebrates 70 years of the health service and the great strides physiotherapy has made as a profession.  It also looks to the future and how emerging, cutting edge technologies will reshape the care physiotherapists provide..

 

The anniversary has also brought into sharp focus the importance of the Windrush generation, and their spiritual heirs, who contribute so much to the success of the NHS. Seventy years on from its genesis, the NHS is a truly international organisation of like-minded souls from around the world. And that can only be a cause for celebration.