On Wednesday evening the exterior facade of the Library of Birmingham will be lit up light blue to mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS.

Treating over a million people a day in England, the NHS touches all of our 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. This is because, since 1948, the NHS has always evolved and adapted to meet the needs of each successive generation.

From Britain’s first kidney transplant in 1960, to Europe’s first liver transplant in 1968. From the world’s first CT scan on a patient in 1971, revolutionising the way doctors examine the body, to the world’s first test-tube baby born in 1978.

Large-scale vaccination programmes protected children from whooping cough, measles and tuberculosis, and in 1999 the meningitis C vaccine was offered nationally in a world first. The NHS has delivered huge medical advances, including the world’s first liver, heart and lung transplant in 1987, pioneering new treatments, such as bionic eyes and, in more recent times, the world’s first rapid whole genome sequencing service for seriously ill babies and children.

COVID-19 research and development
During the pandemic, having a single national health service enabled us to carry out research at an unprecedented scale and find the world’s first effective treatment for COVID-19, dexamethasone, making it available across every hospital the same day it was approved. It enabled us to not just deliver the first accredited COVID-19 vaccine in the world but to rollout the NHS vaccine programme with a combination of speed and precision unseen elsewhere.

Transforming the NHS
The NHS is now a leader in adopting innovative medicines, with industry data showing there are five treatments available in England for every four in Europe, as well as almost a third more cancer drugs. Purchasing power means we can do this at a price that benefits taxpayers as well as patients.

In 2022 alone, robotics systems have helped to treat patients with prostate cancer and get them back to their homes in less than 24 hours after surgery. We saw the first new treatment for sickle cell disease in over two decades, and the 100th cancer drug was fast tracked to patients through the NHS Cancer Drugs Fund.

Elective care and urgent and emergency care
The NHS is very proud of how its staff worked tirelessly to respond to the pandemic and care for thousands of patients. But the virus is still with us, and dealing with its after-effects will take us, and other health systems across the world, several years to fully recover.

We are putting plans in place to help us to fulfil our ambitions, and to deliver better health and services for every community.

The NHS website has full details of its history and services.

Article published 5 July 2023