THE NHS is a strange institution. For most, it only truly matters at the best and worst moments of our lives – ushering new life into the world, and being or seeing loved ones poorly and vulnerable. Those interactions that we have with the health service – sometimes few and far between – are so formative they shape the way we all feel about this precious service.

Most of us in Scotland were born “into the NHS”; brought into this world by the caring hands of a midwife or obstetrician. It was there for us during childhood, immunising us against diseases that killed and harmed millions in the early decades of the 20th century. It is there for us in emergencies, it is there for us in worry; and we hope it will be there for us in the future when ill health and frailty creep in.

The certainty of a continued free universal healthcare system seemed unmoveable when I began my career in the health service. As a wide-eyed (and wet behind the ears) medical student I worked my weekends as a clinical support worker in the hospitals across Edinburgh.

Not much more than a decade ago the idea that the NHS wouldn’t last forever seemed incomprehensible, but much has changed since I joined the NHS in 2005, and now it seems more probable than impossible that decisions taken outside of Scotland may change the course of healthcare here.

The NHS in Scotland has been paraded as the success story of devolution, but now, at a time when there are legitimate fears that the devolution settlement is being corroded and unpicked, we must think carefully about its future as much as reminisce about its past. Those of us who have worked in other parts of the UK have an acute sense of the strain other services are under, particularly those in England, and whilst budgets are set to increase (thanks to a somewhat dubiously labelled Brexit dividend), the news recently has been plagued by stories of service cuts, financial hardship and missed targets.

Whilst the NHS in Scotland is not perfect, there are areas in which we have made strides forward compared to the other national health services within the UK. We have a system of free social care, free prescriptions and better paid staff. Our future nurses, doctors and other allied health professionals do not face the fear of £50k+ of student debt after graduating. We have protected nursing bursaries so we can support training for the next generation of front-line staff. We offer our colleagues from across Europe a place to come and work knowing Scotland voted for you – you are valued and welcome.

Yet for all of this our accomplishments are seldom celebrated, in favour of a narrative that sees more credence paid to misery than success. That the NHS has survived to 70 is a massive achievement for those who believe that healthcare – as a basic human right – should be free at point of care and based upon the best evidence available, not the ability to pay; but we should not become complacent. There is much work to be done to safeguard healthcare in Scotland for future generations, and a vital step along that road will be Scottish independence.

I believe that health should transcend policy domains. We need to be bold and inventive in considering health, not just in terms of what happens in hospitals or GP surgeries. We need to think about health in social justice, health in transport, health in education. This should be the starting point for our future planning for the next 70 years of the NHS in Scotland.

Over the next few days we hope to explore health in Scotland, celebrating success and learning from challenges to build an aspirational system of healthcare that can remain a beacon of hope both at home and abroad.

Dr Marc Aitken is a junior doctor in Glasgow and a member of NHSforYES