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A message from the Chairman of Epping Forest District Council Cllr Darshan Sunger to say ‘thank you’ to all NHS staff and critical workers on the 75th anniversary of the NHS.
Chairman of Epping Forest District Council Cllr Darshan Sunger said:
5 July 2023 marks 75 years of the National Health Service (NHS).
The NHS was founded on 5 July 1948 with the aim of providing free healthcare to all. Treating over a million people a day in England, the NHS touches all of our lives.
When it was founded in 1948, the NHS was the first universal health system to be available to all, free at the point of delivery.
The NHS has always evolved and adapted to meet the needs of each successive generation.
From Britain’s first heart transplant in 1958, to Europe’s first liver transplant in 1968.
The NHS has delivered huge medical advances, including the world’s first liver, heart and lung transplant in 1987, pioneering new treatments, such as bionic eyes and, in more recent times, the world’s first effective treatment for Covid-19, making it available across every hospital the same day it was approved.
From the day it launched, the NHS has relied on staff from across the world – from the Windrush Generation of 1948 to today’s workforce, represented by over 200 nationalities.
The service would not be the same without the skill and expertise of NHS staff, volunteers and partners in the social care sector. From the midwives who help bring us into the world, the GPs and pharmacists who are our first port of call when we are sick, the nurses, doctors and other clinicians who care for us in our time of need, the porters and cleaners who keep our hospitals moving, and the hundreds of thousands of dedicated staff and volunteers in between – the NHS staff hard work, dedication and compassion have made the NHS was it is today.
On the flag are the words ‘We Thank You’ – these are three small words but said with heartfelt emotion because we all now realise how important these services are to our society and health of our nation.
So today, to all our NHS, Social Care and Frontline staff ‘We Thank You’ from the bottom of our hearts.
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