Summary
The National Health Service (NHS) was created seven decades ago today. Different organisations have marked this event in their own distinct ways.
Two sets of brief statistical eye-openers. The first is from the Office for National Statistics:
Reference
NHS70: Marking 70 years of the National Health Service. [Online]: Office for National Statistics (ONS), July 2nd 2018.
NHS Digital (formerly the Health and Social Care Information Centre) has also summarised statistics from seven decades to reflect changing patterns of ill-health, an ageing population and the influence of modern lifestyles on demand for services.
Reference
Seven facts for seven decades. [Online]: NHS Digital, July 4th 2018.
Topical coverage from BBC News:
Reference
‘I’ve been an NHS patient for 70 years’. London: BBC Health News, July 5th 2018.
Reference
NHS Street: Voices from Aneurin Bevan’s Tredegar. London: BBC Health News / BBC Wales News, July 4th 2018.
More on the Bevan / Welsh origin angle:
Reference
Frampton, B. (2018). NHS at 70: Aneurin Bevan’s great-niece on the family business. London: BBC Health News / BBC Wales News, July 5th 2018.
A brief “photographic timeline”:
Reference
The NHS at 70: A timeline in pictures. London: BBC Health News, July 5th 2018.
More pictures.
NHS England contributions:
Reference
NHS 70 year success down to “brilliance” of staff says Simon Stevens. [Online]: NHS England, July 5th 2018.
The Westminster Abbey address:
“ …to be proud of our health service is not to be blind to its imperfections. It’s to be honest about its achievements, while holding ourselves to an ever higher standard. Seventy years ago almost to the day, Aneurin Bevan predicted that the Health Service: “must always be changing, growing and evolving” so that “it must always appear to be inadequate”. So here’s the paradox: To continue to succeed in the future, the NHS must always be impatient with the present”.
Reference
Simon Stevens’ NHS 70 address to Westminster Abbey. [Online]: NHS England, July 5th 2018.
Looking again at the contributions of individuals, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) provided 70 accounts of individuals’ positive impact upon improving care:
Reference
Driving improvement – individuals who have made a difference. [Online]: Care Quality Commission (CQC), July 5th 2018.
There are four, sector-specific, reports:
- Driving improvement: case studies from eight NHS trusts. Newcastle upon Tyne: Care Quality Commission (CQC), July 2018.
- Driving improvement: case studies from seven mental health trusts. Newcastle upon Tyne: Care Quality Commission (CQC), July 2018.
- Driving improvement: case studies from nine adult social care services. Newcastle upon Tyne: Care Quality Commission (CQC), July 2018.
- Driving improvement: case studies from ten GP practices. Newcastle upon Tyne: Care Quality Commission (CQC), July 2018.
Notable local celebrations in England:
Reference
NHS70: Help us celebrate the 70th birthday of the NHS! [Online]: Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, 2018.
October 2018 Updates
The BBC‘s NHS Tracker:
Reference
Check NHS cancer, A&E, ops and mental health targets in your area. London: BBC Health News, October 10th 2018.
and a quick overview of activity:
Reference
McKenzie, D. (2018). The NHS in numbers: What the service does in one day. London: BBC Health News / BBC Radio 5 Live, October 10th 2018.
