Happy birthday to the NHS – we’re 73 today!
Today (Monday 5 July) is the 73rd birthday of our NHS and after such a challenging year, it’s a great time to celebrate how we’ve kept our hospitals running, providing the best possible care for our patients, while also supporting each other.
Our Deputy Chief Executive, Ben Morrin, helped kick off the celebrations this morning with a happy birthday message, while also thanking our teams, partners and local communities for their support over the last year.
Celebrations started early this year with a national Thank You Day yesterday (Sunday 4 July), and our Chief Nurse Kathryn Halford took the opportunity to thank all our staff for their hard work during the pandemic.
You can see more videos from our colleagues wishing the NHS a happy birthday on our social media channels, including @BHRUT_NHS.
We’re also showing our appreciation for our teams by delivering tea, coffee and cakes to our wards and departments. This started at King George Hospital last week, while treats will be delivered at Queen’s Hospital throughout this week.
This follows on from our recent Thank You Week in April and we’re pleased that this will continue, with cakes and refreshments delivered to our hardworking staff on a monthly basis.
Some of our teams will be celebrating our birthday by taking part in the NHS Big Tea, with many raising money for our charity. We’ll be sharing more information and pictures throughout the week.
There was also a special message shared by the Queen on Thank You Day, thanking nurses from the Philippines for their exceptional service to the NHS.
The Queen commended Filipino nurses, saying UK is fortunate to have them in the NHS. As we have over 500 Philippine nurses at our Trust, it was great to see this message from the Queen recognising their contribution.
The message from the Queen extending her best wishes to the people of the Philippines was sent to Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte yesterday (Sunday 4 July), and comes during the year which marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and the UK.