75 years 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.
The NHS and Healthwatch
Over the last 75 years, we’ve seen a lot of change in our health and social care services, good and bad. In celebrating this milestone moment for the NHS, we want to take the opportunity to acknowledge everyone who has contributed to our work, and the role you played in making care better for communities in Kingston.
With your voice as our guide, we’ve improved the services you need to stay well by ensuring your local NHS decision-makers listen to your feedback.
As we work towards a day when everyone gets the care they need, your voices and experiences can continue shaping the future of health and social care.
Read how your contributions have impacted the NHS in Kingston over the last year, in our Annual Report:
NHS75: An Open Letter from Vanessa Ford, Chief Executive, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust to South West London: Tackling Stigma Together
This month we celebrate the NHS’s 75th Birthday, with events taking place across the country. It is a fantastic milestone to reach and a chance for us all to reflect on everything universal healthcare has done for our communities in this time, whilst also looking to the future.
The NHS is a precious asset to all of us. It is built on the commitment, skill and effort of our staff, the support of our patients, services users and carers and strong relationships with the communities we serve.
In South West London, our Mental Health Trust is proud to have the one of the most diverse workforce in Britain that reflects the people we serve. We continue to push forward and adapt to meet the needs of new generations, putting patients at the heart of everything we do, celebrating inclusion and working hard to be anti-racist.
In mental healthcare we have seen significant progress over the decades, with positive changes in attitudes to mental health and greater acceptance of mental illness. It is vital we continue to break stigma, raise awareness and ensure mental health is a part of everyday conversation as we look to the next 75 years.
The reality is that mental ill health presents a double jeopardy, both in terms of experiencing illness, and the impacts of mental health stigma. This was the resounding conclusion of last year’s Lancet Commission on ending stigma and discrimination in mental health.
The commission also found that encouraging social contact between those who do and do not have experience of mental ill health can be key to tackling it sustainably.
Today as we celebrate so much progress, I am calling for us all to tackle mental health stigma together - in our conversations, connections, actions, and day-to-day decisions.
At South West London and St George’s we are leading the way by creating a modern mental health estate that brings a vision of integrating communities to break stigma to life. For too long, large parts of the NHS mental health estate have been isolated from the people they serve, reflecting outdated, stigma-laden attitudes from years gone by. These days are now far behind us in South West London.
At our headquarters, Springfield University Hospital in Tooting, this is changing dramatically. After years in development, on the NHS’s 75th birthday, we are delighted to be opening the new Springfield Village at our community Summer Street Party.
Springfield Village is a mixed-use community made up hundreds of new homes - many affordable - shops, a public square, two state-of-the art mental health facilities, world-class artworks, land for a new school and a 32-acre park. In all, it is part of a £1bn investment in healthcare and urban development in South West London that continues through to 2027. Moreover, this new village is symbolic of just how far we have come in breaking down barriers and changing attitudes to mental illness.
This transformation is so important to ensuring our local NHS continues to support and reflect the society we serve and provide modern environments for care that empower recovery.
And Springfield Village is just the start. Across our estate we are investing to transform our services to deliver care closer to home, expanding our community services, and investing to develop bright, modern facilities at Barnes and Tolworth Hospitals that are fit for the 21stCentury.
So as we mark 75 years of the NHS, we say thank you to the thousands of people who make it so special in so many ways – to our staff, patients, service users, carers and volunteers.
We say thank you to all our partners who have helped to create our amazing new Springfield Village.
And to our communities we say thank you for all your support and for helping us to create empowering, inclusive spaces for everyone to live more happier and fulfilled lives – let’s keep breaking stigma together.
Vanessa Ford
Chief Executive
South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
