Director, Association of Community Health Councils in England and Wales For every citizen, the National Health Service has become an essential service, on which we all rely. Its founding principles are as relevant now as they were in 1948.
As we look forward to the next fifty years - and this will be the theme of ACHCEW's Annual Conference from Tuesday, 14 July to Thursday, 16 July 1998 - we must make sure that as the NHS develops it continues to recognise that the users of the service should be centrally involved in planning services. True patient partnership, in which the service user is an equal partner with the providers of service, must be the ideal on which the NHS goes into the new millennium.
Tony Blair
For every citizen, the National Health Service has become an essential service, on which we all rely. Its founding principles are as relevant now as they were in 1948.
