I RECALL meeting the man I most admire who lived in the 20th century.

He was in the middle of the pavement in the centre of Cardiff with lots of people walking past him.

Sadly he was made of stone and the inscription was simple and yet so powerful. It said Aneurin Bevan, Founder of the NHS.

Aneurin through his courage, determination and love of people has saved as many lives as some of our Generals have lost.

I recall as a youngster the furious arguments about the setting up of a service which provided the first available health care: 24 hours a day in every town and city free of charge.

This has saved my family and myself tens of thousands of pounds which we could not possibly have afforded. Dentists too were brought into the scheme despite strenuous opposition, and when Aneurin was asked how he won the battle he said: "I stuffed their mouths with gold."

In fact even today our doctors are the highest paid in Europe. The doctors also managed to keep an independent private service alongside the state provision which could also use state facilities. which had to be conceded as the price of their cooperation.

Aneurin, after four years, resigned from the government when his colleagues decided to charge patients for their dentures. He saw this as the thin end of the wedge and how right he was.

During the last 25 years governments have closed over 50 per cent of NHS beds. In 2013/14 there are 135,000 NHS. beds compared with 297,000 in 1987/88. But this is only part of the story. During the past 20 years many hospitals and A and E services have been closed.

We are told that GPs, instead of providing a service at weekends can help out in their local A and E department for up to £1,500 a shift on top of their average yearly salaries of just over £100,000.

To pay for this, as an example, the top floor of Gloucester Royal Hospital is full of private patients paid for by insurance companies thus increasing waiting times and help for NHS patients.

Private patients who choose not to have rooms of their own can be rewarded by these companies to the tune of £100 a night.

The rest of us must go to the back of the queue unless it is desperately urgent in which case the hospital might have to pay to send them to a private facility.

Furthermore to get our hospitals built and extended hospital trusts have had to take on 30-year credit agreements which one MP likened to buying your house with your credit card.

Private companies such as Virgin are also buying up and profiting from state hospital services.

A year ago, Cherie Blair, wife of the ex prime minister, set up in New York with an American partner a company designed to profit from the supply of medical services and equipment to the NHS.

Many other services and activities formerly provided by the NHS have been closed down as the private sector cherry picks the cases it is prepared to take on, knowing that if things go wrong they can always bung them into an NHS clinic.

When I next visit Cardiff I would not be surprised to see Aneurin in tears. Aneurin in his Welsh passion called the saboteurs and profiteers who were gathering to reduce and undermine his great achievement "lower than vermin".

If only he could have lived to hear the roar of approval when in the opening of our Olympic Games a witty tribute was paid to all the dedicated people who are still keeping it in being. They need our support.

– Roger Horsfield, Bream.