Poor Law to NHS: "Dreaming of things that never were".

Occasionality – and sometimes unexpectedly - one comes across something which really grabs your attention, that perhaps thrills you or, to coin a phrase “makes your day”. I’ve had such an occurrence in the past 24 hours.

In the years leading up to and since my retirement two decades ago I have slowly built up an extensive library – my office shelves strain under the weight of hundreds of books; philosophy, politics, history, society……. many of the great works of the world’s learning and fiction. And over the years I have read almost every one (many of them several times) – the only outstanding ones being my most recent purchases, all waiting for me to open their covers. And yesterday I began reading one of my latest acquisitions, a book given to me by my daughter Kate on my 80th birthday a few months ago because, as she said at the time, "I think it might appeal to you”. How right she was.

From the minute I read the first couple of pages I was hooked.

Kate had come across the book almost by accident - it was written by the father of one of her friends in Manchester where Kate lives. It is called “Park Hospital Davyhulme: Birthplace of the NHS” by Edmund Hoare & Michael Billington and it tells the story of that Manchester hospital from before its setting up and up to the present day.

The hospital in question is not famous as one of the great hospitals of the land: Barts, King’s College, Papworth, the John Radcliffe, or Great Ormond Street to name but a few. Indeed it is, many might say, just an ordinary, everyday provincial hospital like so many others throughout the country. But that would be doing it a great disservice for it is anything but ordinary and everyday – it has a unique history and that history is part of the very fabric of the nation’s social, political, and medical landscape; in short it is about us as a people, it is part of our cultural heritage.

Park Hospital began its life in the late 1920s when it was the last hospital to be built in this country as a result of the ancient (dating back to Tudor times) Poor Laws - indeed its concept and establishment was under the supervision of the local Poor Law Guardians. During the war it became a military hospital for troops from the UK, France and America and then shortly after the War it became an NHS hospital. Some might say this was its finest hour when on July 5th 1948 the Park Hospital was chosen to be the place where the new NHS was launched. On that day the great founder of the NHS, Nye Bevan, came with other dignitaries to the Park to officially launch the NHS – and in doing so changed this country for ever and for the better. Today, as Trafford General Hospital, it would be quite unrecognisable to that which opened in 1929 as Park Hospital, born out of the ancient Poor Law but that is a testament to the endeavour, commitment, ideals, far sightedness and altruism of so many for almost a century and up to the present day.

The book is the story of this hospital and its unique and great history and its contribution to the locality and the wider nation. It is full of anecdotes, interesting details, memories, documents and all manner of resources written by people who experienced both the everyday, humdrum moments in the life of the hospital but also its finest moments when it became a beacon in the life of the nation. Filled with pictures, facts and lively commentary it is not a dry and dusty history book but a volume that oozes life and passion. And for me, it makes me proud of what this country can and did do in our long history - even in the most trying of times. It’s not about battles won or kings being crowned or flags being mindlessly waved in faux patriotic pride but about ordinary people who, in the times that they lived – whether it was in the dark days of the Poor Law, or in the age of the much dreaded workhouse, or in the inspirational days of the infant NHS – did what they could and more to make the world a better place both for themselves and their families and for future generations. It makes real the social contract that binds together successive generations; I pay my taxes to make my own world a better place, but in doing so I am also making things better for those yet to be born for they will be born into a world with the hospitals, schools, roads, parks, public services and the rest that makes their world and their lives better. And I, and others like me, have in a small way helped to provide all that; it is our legacy to those yet to be born - people that we will never know, given freely and with love; a maxim which perhaps sums up the tale told in this wonderful book. I was born in 1945, a child of Attlee and Bevan’s “New Jerusalem”, a child of the NHS and I (and my family) am a direct beneficiary of what my parents’ and grandparents’ generations did in their times. And that is why the book is more than just a nice informative read – it’s about our responsibilities as citizens of today and and our responsibilities to each other both now and to the citizens of the future.

Beautifully written and illustrated it’s a treasure trove of information and comment. It’s a social history and a testament to the ingenuity and ambition of both ordinary people and the great men and women of our nation. On the one hand we live, today, in age of increasing homelessness and deteriorating housing stock, of a constantly under pressure health service, of potholes blighting our roads, of under resourced schools, of growing inequality and all the other ills that contemporary society bears witness; and on the other hand our contemporary politicians of every hue appear timid, lacking both vision and the courage of their convictions to take the necessary ambitious steps to improve things. This book is a timely and important reminder of what can be done if the will is there. It’s not just about Nye Bevan and the birth of the NHS but a testament to people through the ages who, to use President John F Kennedy’s words, knew that “The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by sceptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.” Bevan, Attlee and those involved in the founding of this hospital were such people, but they weren't just dreamers, they dreamt of things that many in their times thought were quite unimaginable and unattainable, and they acted. They were people who made dreams come true - and this lovely book is their testament.

If you get the chance, have a read of this splendid and inspiring book and, like those people of past generations, dream of things that never were.