On the 5th July in 1948, the NHS opened its doors for the first time. Seventy-eight years later, it remains an extraordinary service that shows up for people on the best and worst days of their lives – and it would be nothing without the regular folks who keep it running every day.
To celebrate this big birthday, we’ve reached out to our Blue Light Card community and asked for some favourite NHS memories.
As well as keeping the NHS ticking, many frontline workers in our community have their own stories of being patients and feeling grateful for the NHS’s care.
Roger, who worked for the ambulance service during the pandemic, thought he’d contracted COVID-19 and returned to work too soon. Within days, he was in intensive care, paralysed from the neck down and fighting for his life after being diagnosed with what was in fact encephalitis.
"For the next three months, I received the most incredible care from a team of amazing people. The physio was the turning point. Two amazing young people, Annie and Rosa, literally bullied me into doing things I needed to do – and I use the term ‘bullied’ in the nicest possible way. They would not take no for an answer. I owe them my life, and I mean that."
– Roger, Ambulance service
Stephen, a serving police officer, received a diagnosis that stopped him in his tracks.
"I am eternally grateful to the staff of the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital for curing me of bone cancer and giving me a future. As a serving and fit Police Officer, the news was a bolt out of the blue. Not a team I wanted to meet, but so glad I did."
– Stephen, Police Officer
Frederick worked for the NHS when he faced oesophageal cancer. After eleven weeks of chemotherapy, he remembers the moment he was wheeled into the operating theatre.
"As I went into the theatre, my surgeon said to me: "I've never lost a patient on my table yet, and so I will not lose you. Drift off to sleep and, hopefully, when you awake, it will be gone." Well done, NHS – without them I would not be here now."
– Frederick, NHS
Social Care worker Cheryl credits her life – and her daughter’s – to the NHS, and she has gone out of her way to raise money as a way of saying thank you.
“Two of my fondest NHS memories are from giving birth. One was during lockdown, and I was there to give the first clap for the NHS. The second one was almost losing my life with my second baby, if it wasn't for what the NHS did. I'm still here today to say thank you again for what they do. Last year, my partner and I raised nearly £3,000 for the blood donors and the NHS, to say thank you for saving my life and my daughter.”
– Cheryl, Social Care
The NHS has a sense of humour. It has to – nothing eases the tension of a difficult shift like a little laughter. Andrew, an A&E Consultant, shared his favourite absurd moments from the emergency department.
"There is a unique comedy to the emergency department – from the sheer panic of an automated door trapping a stretcher to patients presenting with the most bizarre objects stuck in inexplicable places.
I will never forget the night a junior doctor mistakenly triaged an escaped pet hamster as a "critical bite risk", or when I confidently diagnosed a patient with a rare tropical rash, only to realise it was dye transfer from their brand-new blue jeans."
– Andrew, A&E Consultant
Graham, a PCSO, received unexpected backup from NHS paramedics.
"I was dealing with a drunk male in the middle of a main road causing chaos. An ambulance pulled up opposite us with two paramedics getting out and walking towards us. One paramedic then helped us restrain the man until the cavalry arrived. Best backup ever."
– Graham, Police Community Support Officer
And then there's Edward's story – which predates most of our readers by quite some margin.
"In 1953, I was 3 months old with measles, mumps, and whooping cough – keeping all the other patients and the staff awake all night. One of the junior nurses complained to my GP, who gave her a 10-shilling note to buy half a bottle of whisky. The GP put a sticky label on it and wrote 1 tsp to be given when needed at night, along with my name. To this day I do love whisky, especially a peaty single malt."
– Edward, Police
We suspect that medical techniques may have moved on slightly since then.
It wouldn't be right to celebrate the NHS's birthday without hearing from the people who have dedicated their working lives to it.
Chesney has worked for the NHS since 2009 and has seen it from both sides – as a member of staff and as a patient. Starting in the ambulance service, moving on to district nursing and gaining a nursing qualification, and now working for a 0-19 team, she isn't going anywhere.
"There aren't any other organisations out there I can think of that look after their staff as well as they look after their patients. It hasn't all been plain sailing, but I love the NHS for what it's done and what it continues to do."
– Chesney, NHS
Gina has been part of the NHS for thirty years and isn't shy about where her loyalty lies.
"I can say our team are just amazing. We try and stay focused on the patients and the positives. We have ups and downs, but as a team there is no other team I would want to be part of."
– Gina, NHS
Julie has been nursing for eighteen years and is now an Advanced Critical Care Practitioner in Nottingham – among the first cohort trained in that role, part of a team that has since grown to twenty-four covering all intensive care areas. Over nearly two decades she has collected stories that, she says, put life into perspective.
"I have met so many people. I have heard about patients who have given their life to helping others, those with incredibly interesting jobs that have taken them all over the globe, and others who have been so unlucky in life or health and still have a positive outlook. The people I work with are incredible beings. From inspirational leaders who have guided my career path, right down to the junior staff on the shopfloor – we have been through a lot, and that's a bond like no other."
– Julie, Advanced Critical Care Practitioner, NHS
And Gayle, a midwife, once worked a memorable birthday shift.
“I once worked on my birthday, looking after a woman in labour whose birthday it was, too. She gave birth to a girl baby, and to celebrate all three birthdays, the dad went out and bought a huge cake. They gave their daughter my name as her middle name to thank me. Felt truly blessed!”
– Gayle, Midwife, NHS
Seventy-eight years. Millions of patients. Countless moments of skill, kindness, quick thinking and – yes – one prescription of whisky prescribed for a screaming baby in 1953.
From everyone at Blue Light Card, happy birthday to our wonderful NHS!
