NHS celebrates 75 years!

Wednesday 5 July 2023 marks 75 years of the National Health Service.

Now treating over a million people a day in England, the NHS was founded in 1948 and was the first universal health system to be available to all, free at the point of delivery. Since 1948, the NHS has continued to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of each successive generation.

The NHS has been at the forefront of many vital medical innovations, including Britain's first kidney transplant in 1960 to Europe’s first liver transplant in 1968. Large scale vaccination programmes have protected generations of children from common debilitating – and sometimes fatal – diseases such as whooping cough, measles and TB. And today the NHS continues to push at the boundaries of medical science and understanding.

Happy Birthday NHS!

Our photo shows Aneurin Bevan MP, Minister of Health, on the first day of the National Health Service, 5 July 1948 at Park Hospital, Davyhulme, near Manchester.