PUBLIC MEETING
Friday 28th November 2025 at 7:30
Blackheath Quaker Meeting House, Lawn Terrace, Blackheath, London, SE3 9LL
The meeting was also sponsored by Greenwich, Lewisham and Bexley Unite Community
Reclaim the NHS held a very successful public meeting on the 28th November 2025 at Blackheath Quaker Meeting House. Over 50 people were present, and we were very pleased to see so many new faces and so much interest and enthusiasm.
The recordings of two of our speakers are below.
- Dr Bob Gill, a local GP, described the ways in which the NHS has been privatised, an intention first stated nearly 50 years ago and carried out under successive governments, Conservative / Labour /Lib Dem. https://youtu.be/iXTasHi8K5M (2025) 30 minutes
- Shirley Gibbs, a former midwife and health visitor, now retired, gave a fascinating account of her life working for the NHS. She drew out the significant deterioration in the extent and depth of training and in the levels of care the NHS gives to its own staff. https://youtu.be/5g6K_MdR5UQ (2025) 15 minutes
At the start of the meeting we showed four films made about the introduction of the NHS in 1948 and how it was operating in the 1960s. We showed four films about the history of the NHS, which are available to view via the British Film Institute website:
- Health Services in Britain (1962) 13 minutes https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-health-services-in-britain-1962-online This film was sponsored jointly by the Commonwealth Relations Office, the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office, and used the NHS “to promote British values overseas.” The BFI explains: “The film surveys NHS accomplishments, from the decline of TB to advances in treating WWII injuries, and from maternity care to services for the elderly, and celebrates the role of family GPs: “the frontline troops in the constant fight against disease.’” The medicine itself has moved onwards and upwards, but the care has declined beyond all recognition. Britain’s health service was once the envy of the world.
- “Your Very Good Health” (1948) 9 minutes https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-your-very-good-health-1948-online
The BFI explains: “In this film Charley (a cartoon character) demystifies the new state-funded National Health Service, detailing the benefits a free -at-point-of-delivery health service will offer to everyone in England.” The NHS began its life on 5th July 1948. This film takes us back to the first weeks when the government promoted the and explained how they can benefit from the NHS. - “The Doctor’s Dilemma” (1948) (1 minute) https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-doctors-dilemma-1948-online
Very clear information had to be given about the new NHS because the change was so far-reaching: privatised health or healthcare as charity was out and publicly provided care was now universal, comprehensive and free. - “A Healthier Britain” (1944) (2 minutes) https://conservativehome.com/2018/01/05/profile-henry-willink-the-conservative-who-proposed-a-national-health-service-before-bevan-created-one/
In 1942 the Beveridge Report on “Social Insurance and Allied Services”, contained the first mentions of a National Health Service. It was developed and promoted by Sir William Beveridge, a Liberal and accepted across the political parties. In 1944, as this film shows, a White Paper outlining how the National Health Service would work, was promoted by Sir Henry Willinck the Conservative Minister of Health in the wartime Cabinet.
We handed out this information sheet at the meeting.