The NHS has actually been marking its 70th anniversary, and the nationwide dispute this has let loose has actually centred on three huge realities. There's been pride in our Health Service's long-lasting success, and in the shared social commitment it represents. There's been concern - about funding, staffing, increasing inequalities and pressures from a growing and ageing population. But there's likewise been optimism - about the possibilities for continuing medical advance and much better results of care.

In looking ahead to the Health Service's 80th birthday, this NHS Long Term Plan takes all 3 of these realities as its beginning point. So to succeed, we must keep all that's excellent about our health service and its location in our nationwide life. But we need to deal with head-on the pressures our staff face, while making our extra financing go as far as possible. And as we do so, we must speed up the redesign of client care to future-proof the NHS for the decade ahead. This Plan sets out how we will do that. We are now able to because:

- initially, we now have a safe and better funding course for the NHS, balancing 3.4% a year over the next five years, compared to 2% over the previous 5 years