Post by Kimmy on Oct 12, 2010 9:12:49 GMT
Agony aunt, writer and broadcaster Claire Rayner has died at the age of 79 in her home in north-west London, her family has said.
The patients' rights campaigner, who died on Monday, knew her death was imminent over the weekend and told her relatives she wanted her last words to be: "Tell David Cameron that if he screws up my beloved NHS I'll come back and bloody haunt him."
Des Rayner, her husband of 53 years, said: "I have lost my best friend and my soulmate. I am immensely proud of her." She never recovered from emergency intestinal surgery she had in May this year and died in hospital near her home in Harrow, north-west London. Rayner, also survived by children Amanda, Adam and Jay, and her four grandchildren, had started her career in the National Health Service working as a nurse.
Her husband, who was also her agent and manager, paid tribute to her, saying: "Through her work she helped hundreds of thousands of people and doubtless, by talking frankly about the importance of safe sex in the 80s when almost nobody else would discuss it, helped to save thousands of lives.
"Through her own approach to life she enabled people to talk about their problems in a way that was unique. Right up until her death she was being consulted by both politicians and the medical profession about the best way to provide the health services the nation deserved and nothing mattered to her more than that. Her death leaves a vacancy which will not be filled."
Rayner had also served as president of the Patients Association. Katherine Murphy, association chief executive, said: "I would like to join with everyone involved in the Patients Association in expressing my deep sadness at the death of our much loved president, Claire Rayner. For almost 30 years Claire has devoted so much of her time and energy to championing patients' issues. She was a figurehead and inspiration to us all.
"She cared so deeply that the voice of the patient should be heard and worked tirelessly to ensure that care issue were given prominence in all health matters. She was a wonderful person, an inspiration to us all and she will be missed so much by everyone."
Baroness Helena Kennedy said: "Claire was one of my closest friends. She was an extraordinary woman - passionate, committed, warm and exuberant. She was the best of company and could always be found in the middle of a laughing, adoring crowd. The key thing about Claire was that she was a campaigner to her toes - her mission was to improve the lot of others and she did it with great humility and common sense."
Rayner, who wrote for the Sun, Sunday Mirror and Women's Own, will be given a humanist funeral service for family and close friends only. Rayner had an impoverished childhood before starting her working life. It was while on maternity leave to have her first child that she became a freelance journalist. She became a household name as an agony aunt on problem pages in Britain's best-selling newspapers and also made numerous appearances on television and radio.
Rayner was also a successful author, writing more than 90 books, both fiction and non-fiction. In 1996 she was awarded the OBE for "services to women's issues and health issues". She was involved with more than 50 charities, and was a member of the Prime Minister's Commission on Nursing and the last government's Royal Commission on the Care of the Elderly.
The patients' rights campaigner, who died on Monday, knew her death was imminent over the weekend and told her relatives she wanted her last words to be: "Tell David Cameron that if he screws up my beloved NHS I'll come back and bloody haunt him."
Des Rayner, her husband of 53 years, said: "I have lost my best friend and my soulmate. I am immensely proud of her." She never recovered from emergency intestinal surgery she had in May this year and died in hospital near her home in Harrow, north-west London. Rayner, also survived by children Amanda, Adam and Jay, and her four grandchildren, had started her career in the National Health Service working as a nurse.
Her husband, who was also her agent and manager, paid tribute to her, saying: "Through her work she helped hundreds of thousands of people and doubtless, by talking frankly about the importance of safe sex in the 80s when almost nobody else would discuss it, helped to save thousands of lives.
"Through her own approach to life she enabled people to talk about their problems in a way that was unique. Right up until her death she was being consulted by both politicians and the medical profession about the best way to provide the health services the nation deserved and nothing mattered to her more than that. Her death leaves a vacancy which will not be filled."
Rayner had also served as president of the Patients Association. Katherine Murphy, association chief executive, said: "I would like to join with everyone involved in the Patients Association in expressing my deep sadness at the death of our much loved president, Claire Rayner. For almost 30 years Claire has devoted so much of her time and energy to championing patients' issues. She was a figurehead and inspiration to us all.
"She cared so deeply that the voice of the patient should be heard and worked tirelessly to ensure that care issue were given prominence in all health matters. She was a wonderful person, an inspiration to us all and she will be missed so much by everyone."
Baroness Helena Kennedy said: "Claire was one of my closest friends. She was an extraordinary woman - passionate, committed, warm and exuberant. She was the best of company and could always be found in the middle of a laughing, adoring crowd. The key thing about Claire was that she was a campaigner to her toes - her mission was to improve the lot of others and she did it with great humility and common sense."
Rayner, who wrote for the Sun, Sunday Mirror and Women's Own, will be given a humanist funeral service for family and close friends only. Rayner had an impoverished childhood before starting her working life. It was while on maternity leave to have her first child that she became a freelance journalist. She became a household name as an agony aunt on problem pages in Britain's best-selling newspapers and also made numerous appearances on television and radio.
Rayner was also a successful author, writing more than 90 books, both fiction and non-fiction. In 1996 she was awarded the OBE for "services to women's issues and health issues". She was involved with more than 50 charities, and was a member of the Prime Minister's Commission on Nursing and the last government's Royal Commission on the Care of the Elderly.
