Seventy-eight years ago today, the National Health Service was founded on a simple but transformative idea: healthcare should be available to everyone, free at the point of use, and based on need.

When Nye Bevan, the Health Minister at the time, argued for its creation, he said: “It will lift the shadow from millions of homes. It will keep very many people alive who might otherwise be dead. It will relieve suffering.”

At its heart, that vision was about making sure that everyone could rely on healthcare when they needed it, a principle we would now recognise as part of the right to health. That vision still resonates today. But unfortunately, seventy-eight years later, too many people are still waiting for that shadow to lift.

Take Jenny for example, who we spoke with about her health struggles. When she needed help it took 18 months for someone to listen to her.

Jenny is a disabled woman living with multiple long-term health conditions. When new symptoms emerged, they were routinely dismissed. Appointment after appointment, she was consistently frustrated trying to get proper treatment.

All the while, her health was deteriorating.

When she was eventually listened to, she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and began her treatment. But by then, the delay had already taken its toll.

Her problems did not end there. Jenny was passed between different mental health teams, told her case was too complex for pain management services, and left waiting months for basic follow-up care. Jenny recalls one set of results having to be chased over a year after the tests were first carried out.

Alongside this, she has to navigate a system of confusing forms, referrals and consistent reassessments, having to repeatedly prove that she is in fact still disabled. On top of this, she cares for two young children with additional needs and has been forced to reduce her hours at work because of her health, only to be hit with new pressures from the benefits system.

Jenny’s experience is not unique. It reflects the reality facing millions across the UK who find themselves battling fragmented services, extended waits, and barriers to care.

This year also marks another significant anniversary. Fifty years ago, the UK ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, committing itself to rights including housing, food, social security and the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

The human right to health isn’t just about hospitals or GP appointments. It is about governments making sure the foundations for the best possible health are in place. In practice, the right to health means: everyone is entitled to the healthcare services they need; health services are available, accessible, acceptable and of the highest possible quality; and governments shape the conditions for the best possible health including adequate housing, nutritious food, and fair working conditions

Yet many people still struggle to realise these rights in practice. Austerity measures have stripped health budgets to the bone. Now, as a result, the NHS has a backlog of 6 million patients – that is one tenth of the population currently waiting for treatment.

On top of this, disabled people and those with mental health conditions continue to report being dismissed, disbelieved, or pushed between services and charities that do not communicate with themselves or one another. The support that does arrive is often too late, and only after conditions have worsened.

Jenny put it simply: healthcare professionals need to recognise patients as experts in their own lives. That should not be a controversial proposition. It should be the starting point.

These are not simply isolated failures. They point to deeper problems in how our systems are designed and how accountability operates when things go wrong.

Meanwhile, the UK Government’s new Health Bill appears largely focused on structural reform and centralising powers in Whitehall. While organisational change may have a role to play, it risks overlooking the more fundamental challenge: improving people’s health and tackling the deep-rooted inequalities that continue to shape who gets ill, who receives timely care, and who is left behind.

While the UK has committed to economic and social rights internationally, the crucial next step is missing, as those rights have never been incorporated into our domestic laws.

As we mark this anniversary of the NHS, it is worth remembering that the vision that Bevan had was not just about treating illness. It was about encouraging the conditions for people to live healthier and more secure lives, free from unnecessary suffering.

Rights help us carry that vision forward. They set benchmarks we can rely on. They help to clarify responsibilities. They give people the necessary tools to hold those in power to account when systems are not working.

Seventy-eight years after the NHS was founded, and fifty years after the UK committed itself to the right to health, the challenge is not whether these principles still matter.

It is whether we are willing to make them real.

By Alex Firth, Advocacy and Communications Officer at Just Fair.

Backgorund image by Phathu Nembilwi for IPPF x Fine Acts. The image was modified.