Princess Alexandra Hospital marks 75th anniversary of NHS
News / Wed 5th Jul 2023 at 08:24am
SINCE the NHS was founded on 5 July 1948, it has always innovated and adapted to meet to needs of each generation. 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. 75 years on, the NHS’s founding principles remain as relevant today as they were then.
Despite the challenges, the public still overwhelmingly support having a national health service, and it is what makes people most proud of our country. As we mark 75 years of the NHS, it is a time to celebrate our past, but more importantly, a time to think about the future.
At The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT), the teams are proud to care for patients or support those who provide care, with extraordinary dedication. The 75th birthday of the NHS is now an opportunity to reflect on the achievements over the decades, to say thank you to its amazing people, and to look ahead.
PAHT is holding a virtual event for its people with an opportunity to look back on developments over the years, with changes in technology and working practice. Additionally, the speakers will discuss their experiences and what PAHT means to them. Colleagues will also be focusing on this through special features and videos, together with sharing photos of its people and The Princess Alexandra Hospital, St Margaret’s Hospital and Herts and Essex Hospital across the years.
PAHT has changed significantly since its official opening ceremony on 27 April 1965, attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (pictured, above right). It has seen the implementation of many procedures and treatments that are now a mainstay of the work of a modern acute hospital. This includes computerised tomography (CT) scanners, which were first used in the UK in 1972.
gary roberts
2023-07-05 12:16:49
Thank you NHS, the greatest public service this country has and will ever have. Protect it because if it goes, it will not come back. As Nye Bevan said: "The NHS will last as long as there’s folk with faith left to fight for it" Put me in that ring!
Adam
2023-07-05 13:21:44
The NHS the national religion and absolute failure. Stop fawning all over it and ask where the 240B+ a year goes why there are 7 million on a waiting list. PAH Harlow is rated as pretty poor, in most areas, in 2017 they nearly killed my wife in child birth due to arrogance, try and complain and the notes get lost. If you end up in hospital you need a strong advocate and if you are elderly you have a massive chance it will just kill you. Ask why unlike other health services in the pandemic it stopped treating other diseases and GPS effectively closed and never really reopened. Time to go along the EU lines like a French or German system.
David Forman
2023-07-05 23:46:58
During the peak of the pandemic PAH had more than 350 people on ventilators. Covid killed 3 members of staff and the stress has taken its toll on the staff's health, with a good number suffering long Covid and stress related health problems. The failure to pay staff properly since 2010 has seen tens of thousands of dedicated staff walk away because they were struggling to make ends meet. I know of nursing staff using food banks. As of 31 March this year there were 40,096 vacancies in the Registered Nursing staff group. Plus, loads more vacancies unfilled in other groups. See https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-vacancies-survey/april-2015---march-2023-experimental-statistics
Adam
2023-07-06 08:37:18
David during the pandemic 25 people died at PAH from covid alone, none under 50 and most much older (FOI - December 21). There was never 350 people on ventilators at PAH. There may have been 350 people admitted who tested for covid but never 350 on ventilators. Most who died and where recorded as dying of Covid died within 28 days for ANY reason following a positive test. It was frankly manipulation of numbers to terrify a nation and the NHS went along with it as it made thier life easier. Slapping DNR on older people, ignoring cancer treatments, then we have the treatment in the care homes and how GPs behaved utterly appalling.
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