In The News

Tributes are paid to health campaigner and agony aunt

Tributes are paid to health campaigner and agony aunt

Many tributes have been paid to Claire Rayner who has died aged 79.

Mrs. Rayner had worked as a journalist for a number of national newspapers as well as being a familiar figure on television.

She will be best remembered for her work as an agony aunt — offering advice to people who contacted her with various problems that they had in their lives — and as a campaigner for the National Health Service.

Mrs. Rayner, who was President of the Patients’ Association, had originally trained as a nurse and midwife and for many years used her experience to campaign for better services and the retention of existing facilities.

She was also involved with many charities and was a member of the Commission on Nursing. 

In 1996 she was awarded the O.B.E. for her services to women’s issues and health issues.

Mrs. Rayner had been treated for breast cancer when she was 70. Her health again deteriorated in recent years. She died after failing to recover from intestinal surgery in May.

Relatives said she had wanted her last words to be: “Tell David Cameron that if he screws-up my beloved NHS I will come back and haunt him.”

 

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