With the 70th birthday of the NHS being celebrated this week, staff at the Royal United Hospital in Bath are hanging out the bunting and icing cakes in preparation.
All year the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust has been marking NHS70, the anniversary of the service’s creation in 1948. They’ve been reflecting on the past, celebrating the present and looking to the future.
Former staff have shared their stories and memories of life on the wards in times gone by, including Edith Kenney from Somerset. Edith was one of the first of the new NHS student nurses and can recall an era of rations, curfews and even leeches from her early days at the RUH.
The RUH has also been exploring some of the people and stories that lie behind their ward names, investigating some of the more unusual artefacts from the past, and contemplating how job roles have changed, and will continue to change.
But NHS70 has not only been about the past. The RUH Trust is celebrating advances in science, technology and innovation, including a recent £2.1m grant into Parkinson’s disease research to improve the lives of people living with this condition.
They are also looking ahead to the transformation of the site in Weston, as the new RNHRD and Therapies Centre is almost ready for ‘topping out’, work starts on the state-of-the-art Facial Surgery and Orthodontic Unit and the design for the new Cancer Centre takes shape.
On the actual NHS70 birthday, Thursday 5th July, staff across the RUH will be raising a toast with a celebration tea party, with special NHS70 cupcakes, commemorative pin badges and slideshow of patient ‘thank yous’.
The Mineral Water Hospital building and RUH buildings on the Combe Park site will be ‘lighting up’ blue along with historic and high profile sites across the country.
Chief Executive James Scott said: “This is a very special year, and Thursday a very special day, for all past and present staff at our hospital.
“It’s a perfect time to recognise the great things that happen every day in our hospitals, and to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s made us what we are and everyone who’s helping to shape our future.”