Tributes pour in for Claire Rayner, a 'great force for good'
The writer and broadcaster - who died yesterday, aged 79 - told relatives she wanted her final words to be: "Tell David Cameron that if he screws up my beloved NHS I'll come back and bloody haunt him."
Rayner had devoted her life to caring for others - through her work as a nurse, an advice columnist and, later, as a campaigner for patients' rights.
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Hide AdShe had not recovered from emergency intestinal surgery in May and knew her death was imminent over the weekend. She died in hospital near her home in Harrow, north-west London.
Her husband, Des Rayner, to whom she was married for 53 years, said: "I have lost my best friend and my soulmate. I am immensely proud of her."
Her death touched many with whom she had either worked or inspired.
Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association - of which Rayner was president - said: "She was a figurehead and inspiration to us all.
Baroness Helena Kennedy said: "Claire Rayner was a great force for good in British society. I feel bereft."
Rayner, who is also survived by children Amanda, Adam and Jay, and her four grandchildren will be given a humanist funeral service for family and close friends only.