Hilda Sharp recalled paying for healthcare before the NHS was established.
Now 101 years old, Mrs Sharp said she never had to wait to see the doctor pre-1948.
“It was normal, but not everyone could afford it,” she says. “We didn’t think about it back then, it was just the reality.
“I was in hospital with my first child for two weeks, today you are in and out in a day or two. For my second baby I had to be evacuated because of the war.”
Mrs Sharp, who does tai chi once a week to keep fit, said the NHS had been a regular source of support.
“I am fit and do everything for myself.
“I have hardly used it, but 10 years ago I had a screening and I had to have a hysterectomy.
“My doctor was great, she made me go and I am fine now,” she says.
When Deborah Carpenter was told the devastating news that her six-year-old daughter Ruth had a kidney tumour, the NHS was there to help and support the family.
Mrs Carpenter, who has been supported by Jewish children’s charity Camp Simcha, said, “the paediatric oncology team dealing with Ruth’s case were amazing. We felt supported every step of the way and we were assigned a specialist nurse who looked after us.”
Ruth, who is now eight and lives in Norwich with her parents, underwent 14 months of chemotherapy on the NHS. As she finished, the family were dealt another blow when Mrs Carpenter’s husband was diagnosed with a tumour of the pancreas.
“I has not been easy for the family,” Mrs Carpenter said.
“If we had to think about the financial burden of treatment on top of dealing with all the anxiety and pressure that that sort of diagnosis put on you, I don’t know how we would cope.”
