Following the national applause to pay tribute to its staff on the 72nd anniversary of the National Health Service, it was announced that plans to adequately fund the social care sector us set to be put in place.

As a World War Two Spitfire plane with the words ‘Thank U NHS’ painted on its underside tipped its wings above hospitals and the homes of fundraisers and volunteers, to recognise the way people have supported it during the pandemic, it was announced that social care reform is needed within a year.

NHS England boss Sir Simon Stevens said that the Covid-19 crisis had shone a "very harsh spotlight" on the "resilience" of the care system and that there was a need to "decisively answer" how high quality care could be provided long-term.

After the World War II Spitfire plane with the words ‘Thank U NHS’ painted on its underside tipped its wings above hospitals and the homes of fundraisers and volunteers, to recognise the way people have supported the NHS and local communities during the pandemic, Sir Simon said the Covid-19 pandemic should be used to give momentum to plans to overhaul how the system works.

"If any good is to come from this, we must use this as a moment to resolve once and for all to actually properly resource and reform the way in which social care works in this country," he said.

"The reality is that after at least two decades of talking about it, we do not have a fair and properly resourced adult social care system with a proper set of workforce supports."

He added: "I would hope by the time we are sitting down this time next year on the 73rd birthday of the NHS that we have actually, as a country, been able to decisively answer the question of how are we going to fund and provide high-quality social care for my parents' generation.

"If you take back the history coming out of the Second World War, the country at that point was on austerity.

"The founders of the NHS did not use that as a moment to hesitate, they said, 'let one of the legacies of the war be the creation of the NHS'.

"That's the same legacy we need for long-term care support in social care coming out of coronavirus."

The National Health Service was launched on 5 July 1948, with the core principle that it is free at the point of delivery and is based on clinical need.