Published on: 19 June 2023

Wednesday 5 July, marks 75 years of the National Health Service, and we are looking forward to celebrating with all of #TeamSTSFT throughout July:

  • We’ll have Minchella and Co back on Trust sites to deliver free ice creams as our way of saying thank you for all your hard work, and ‘happy birthday NHS!’ Click here to find out where and when.
  • We’re teaming up with local parkrun events for #TeamSTSFT staff and their families to get involved with either by walking, running or volunteering. Click here to get involved.
  • Our STSFT wellbeing walk leaders are hosting a special wellbeing walk and picnic, where families and dogs are also welcome. Click here to find out more information.
  • Our People Podcast will host a special NHS75 episode.
  • We also want to hear from you – our wonderful workforce – and sharing your special NHS memories.
  • New additions making their arrival into the world in our maternity wards will be gifted a special keepsake baby grow.
  • We’ll be lighting our buildings blue and encouraging you to (safely) decorate your working areas – we love seeing your pictures whenever we celebrate – click here to download a printable NHS75 poster to hang in your departments.
  • Oh and of course, it wouldn’t be a birthday without cake!

About NHS75:

Treating over a million people a day in England, we (the NHS) touch everyone’s lives. 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.

Today, nine in 10 people agree that healthcare should be free of charge, more than four in five agree that care should be available to everyone, and that the NHS makes them most proud to be British.

In August 2022, across Hospital and Community Healthcare Services, the NHS employed (full-time equivalent): 130,398 doctors; 319,616 nurses and health visitors; 21,231 midwives; 157,098 scientific, therapeutic and technical staff; and 17,870 ambulance staff.

  • The NHS sees about 1.3m people a day, which is equal to the entire population of Estonia. 10 years ago in the year 2011/12 the number was 1.25 million.
  • There are 1,600 babies born a day/one birth every 54 seconds.
  • The NHS has more patients sleep in our beds each night than there are hotel rooms in London (140.000).
  • The NHS cleans an area the size of Gibraltar every day.
  • The NHS provides up to 227 meals every minute for staff, patients, and visitors – that’s 326,880 meals a day, which is the same as feeding a meal to the entire population of Shropshire.
  • The NHS accounts for 40% of all public sector emissions and 3.5% of all road transport. All NHS trusts now have a green plan in place which will save more than 1 million tonnes of carbon over the next three years (same as taking 520,000 cars off the road)
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