Celebrating 70 Years of the NHS

What better way to celebrate one of the nation’s most loved institutions than with a cup of tea?

 

But this will be more than just a regular brew. On and around 5 July, people up and down the country will get together to raise a cuppa to our beloved NHS and raise funds for NHS charities – including our own, The Whittington Charitable funds.

 

It’s easy. Just get people around for a cup of tea, and maybe a slice of cake, and have some fun swapping your NHS stories. You can invite your friends round for a cuppa, brew up for your family, crack open the staff room tea bags, or commandeer the local village hall. To start planning your Big7Tea event and download your party pack containing everything you need for the perfect party just visit the NHS Big7Tea Website. When you have made your plans don’t forget to tell us about it on social media. Tag us @WhitHealth on twitter and use #Big7Tea or leave us a message on our Facebook Wall.

The NHS 70th birthday coincides with the finale of the 500th Anniversary Year of the charity of Richard Cloudesley, a Tudor yeoman who left fourteen acres of land in trust in 1517. The land, “The Stony Fields” is in what is now Barnsbury. It was left for the benefit of the sick and poor of Islington. Before the NHS was born, medical and nursing services for the poor were heavily dependent on voluntary donations.

In the twentieth century the main beneficiary of the Cloudesley charity health and welfare grants was the Great Northern Hospital which moved into the site on Holloway Road in about 1912 and was granted a Royal Charter in 1924. The Richard Cloudesley Ward was one of the famous circular wards. When the Royal Northern Hospital moved on to the Whittington site in the early 1990s, Cloudesley Ward reopened in the new Great Northern Building and is there to this day caring for older patients.

 

With the birth of the NHS in 1948, the income from the Cloudesley charity focussed on helping individuals in financial need suffering from ill health or disability. The health and welfare grants of some £450,000 a year are now distributed through voluntary organisations in partnership with Cloudesley.

 

The charity has recently given financial support to pilot projects sponsored by Islington Clinical Commissioning Group with the possibility of becoming mainstream if they demonstrate clinical and cost effectiveness. These include a “Falls Recovery Project” in which Whittington Health is very much involved.

 

If you want to find out more about Richard Cloudesley and the work of the charity today come along to a presentation on Cloudesley’s work in the field of health and welfare 5 July at 6:30pm. Sign up to attend the event on Facebook.

The Birthday it is a great opportunity to recognise extraordinary people across Whittington Health NHS Trust and throughout our history. The everyday heroes who have played a role in our past, present or future.

 

Please click here for further information on how to nominate your hero.