A portrait of a nurse with almost five decades of experience has been selected as one of the winners of a national photography competition for NHS staff and volunteers to mark the 75th anniversary of service.
The best images from the five categories in the contest are being displayed special show at the Fujifilm House of Photography in Covent Garden, London, from July 5.
They include an image of hundreds of used vaccine vials in an orange sharps bin illustrating the Covid-19 vaccination programme and a photograph of an ambulance battling through the snow.
The picture of Mother Obe, a nurse at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, who has 47 years of experience, was taken by Nurse Emmanuel Espiritu and won the Our People category.
NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: “This competition has provided the perfect opportunity for our incredible staff and volunteers to give a snapshot of life in the NHS, 75 years on from its inception – and we were amazed by the hundreds of brilliant, thought-provoking, and inspiring entries from NHS colleagues across the country.
“I want to offer my personal congratulations to the winners and everyone that took part – as we mark 75 years of the health service, your images will provide fantastic insight into life in our remarkable NHS throughout the exhibition and I cannot wait to see them in person.”
The other winners include a photograph taken by senior pharmacist Wasim Baqir, of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which claimed the Our Innovations category with its depiction of hundreds of used vaccine vials in an orange sharps bin illustrating the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
The photograph by paramedic Joe Cartwright, of South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, shows an ambulance battling snowy conditions as the Beast from the East hit the UK and won the Our Environment category.
The shot by senior research nurse Ewa Gasior, of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, won the Our Care category with the depiction of many hands contributing to delivering patient care.
Senior research nurse Ewa Gasior, of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, won the Our Care category with the depiction of many hands contributing to delivering patient care.
The winner of the Our Partners category, by Jenny Brodie and Mary McConnell – of Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Free Charity, captures the moment Flo, a freelance hairdresser funded by the Royal Free Charity, provides one of her weekly cut and wash services to a grateful patient.
Tom Watanabe, managing director for Fujifilm UK, said: “We know from working with NHS colleagues up and down the country the passion they have for the health service, even in the most challenging of times, so we were delighted to help shine a spotlight on some of these fantastic stories.
“The exhibition will offer the public a unique opportunity to see what happens behind the scenes in our health service every day and it is a fitting way to mark 75 years of the NHS.”
The health service will mark its 75th anniversary on July 5 – an event that threatens to be a “wake”, a leading medic has warned.
Dr Phil Banfield, chairman of the council at the British Medical Association, said the NHS is “collapsing” and doctors are being forced to apologise to their patients because they cannot provide adequate care
Addressing the union's annual representative meeting in Liverpool, he said almost every metric measuring the health service's performance is “flashing red” as he warned that the NHS 75th anniversary celebration “threatens to be a wake”.
“This week The NHS celebrates its 75th anniversary. I remain immensely proud to work as a doctor in an organisation I truly believe in,” he said.
The NHS through the decades – in pictures
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The first babies born on July 5, 1948, the day the NHS was launched in the UK. Getty Images -
People take part in a doorstep survey about the need for a National Health Service in 1944. Getty Images -
The sorting of ballot papers in the British Medical Association to ascertain doctors' views on joining the National Health Service scheme, in April 1948. Getty Images -
Minister for health Aneurin Bevan watches a demonstration of a new stretcher in Preston, on the first day of the new National Health Service. Getty Images -
Mr Bevan's visit to Park Hospital, Manchester, now named Trafford General Hospital, on July 5, 1948. PA -
Nurses of Whipps Cross Hospital, in London, singing Christmas carols to one of the patients in bed in 1952. Getty Images -
NHS patients queuing in the rain outside a mobile X-ray unit parked in a street in New Cross, London in 1954. Getty Images -
Some of the 8,000 nurses attending a protest meeting at Trafalgar Square, London, in support of their pay claim in 1952. Getty Images -
A nurse in the operating theatre of St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, in 1968. Getty Images -
Nurses demonstrating outside the Ministry of Health, London, in 1974. Getty Images -
Demonstrators protesting in London against proposed NHS funding cuts in 1984. Getty Images -
A busy Friday night in the A&E section of the Royal London Hospital in 1998. Getty Images -
Unison members protest in front of the British Parliament to protest against conditions which will turn the NHS into a two-tier system in 2003. Getty Images -
Work during the construction of Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in 2007. Getty Images -
Performers dance in a scene in tribute of the NHS during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Getty Images -
NHS workers take part in an anti-austerity protest during the first day of the 2015 Conservative Party Autumn Conference in Manchester. Getty Images -
Doctors treat a baby, receiving light therapy, inside an incubator in the Birmingham Women's Hospital in 2015. Getty Images -
Nurses in uniforms from each decade of the NHS celebrate the 70th birthday of the NHS in 2018. Getty Images -
A nurse enters the Covid-19 Red Zone at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Wales in 2020. Getty Images -
NHS staff applaud at the entrance of the Royal Liverpool Hospital as part of the "Clap For Our Carers" campaign in April 2020. Getty Images -
A nurse takes a swab at a Covid-19 drive-through testing station for NHS staff in Chessington in 2020. Getty Images -
A sign of support for the NHS during the coronavirus lockdown in 2020 in Glasgow. Getty Images -
Domestic caretaker Jim Johnson outside Blackpool Victoria Hospital during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Getty Images -
NHS staff members gather outside the University Hospital of North Tees to show their respects and applaud Captain Sir Tom Moore. Getty Images -
NHS staff and key workers queue in the Louisa Jordan Hospital before receiving the coronavirus vaccine in 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. Getty Images -
NHS staff administer the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in 2021 in St Helens. Getty Images -
An ambulance paramedic speaks as NHS workers and supporters gather outside Downing Street during strike action in 2022. Getty Images -
Demonstrators, holding placards and banners, during a strike by NHS nursing staff outside St. Thomas' Hospital in London, in 2022. Getty Images -
Ambulance workers on a picket line during strike action at Chorley Ambulance Station in 2023. Bloomberg -
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is given a demonstration of CPR while visiting the NHS's Addenbrooke's Hospital in 2023. Getty Images
“But as we know, waiting lists have never been higher, cancer targets are missed, emergency departments are overwhelmed.
“Sleeping in a corridor or a chair is frighteningly common, and remember this may be people for whom this is the last day of their life.”
Almost every metric for understanding what is happening is “flashing red right now” he said.
“What's the government's response? Heap more work on an already burnt-out workforce. Repeat lines to the press about how much they value doctors while simultaneously cutting the value of pay. Taking the nurses union to court – shameful.
“This government takes pride in beating the very workers who care for the people of this country.
“This NHS is far removed from the one we want to be celebrating at 75. Its birthday threatens to be a wake.”
The government recently announced a plan to overhaul NHS staffing, which it called “the most radical modernisation and reform of the workforce since the NHS was founded in 1948".
More than 300,000 extra nurses, doctors and other health workers are expected to be employed in the NHS in England under the plans to be unveiled by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Health Secretary Steve Barclay described the scheme as “the first time any government has ever published a comprehensive workforce plan of this nature”.
He said £2.4 billion of funding over five years would tackle pressures by training new people, retaining existing staff and “embracing the very latest technological innovations” including artificial intelligence, speech recognition, robotic process automation and remote monitoring.
“This represents a sea change on how we train, retain and reform the workforce,” he wrote.
“As we celebrate 75 years of the National Health Service, it will help secure its future and ensure we deliver on our commitment to cut waiting lists.”
