NHS70: happy birthday to our health service!

The NHS turns 70 on Thursday 5 July and you can celebrate with us throughout the year!We'll be celebrating the occasion with other NHS hospitals and with our own projects, so keep your eyes peeled for events at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

Patients and their families are invited to celebrate the 70th birthday of the NHS with the London Ambulance Service, London Fire Brigade and Metropolitan Police on Thursday 5 July at Granary Square near Kings Cross Station, from 10:00am to 2:30pm.

This free event is specifically for paediatric patients and their families from local hospitals including GOSH. Come and see vintage and modern ambulances and fire service vehicles, mounted police horses and the police dog unit. A magician will also be attending!

On Thursday 5 July join us – and hospitals across the country – in celebrating the care, compassion and commitment of NHS staff at the NHS Big7Tea party.

Put on a brew and invite friends and family over for a cuppa and a chin-wag – you can even raise money for your favourite NHS charity while doing so. And don’t forget to share photos of your event by using the #NHSat70 hashtag on your social media accounts.

After your tea party, look up at your local landmarks and see if they’ve turned blue. Over 50 buildings, historic monuments and other high-profile sites across the country will be ‘lighting up’ blue on the evening of Thursday 5 July.

GOSH Arts and artist Davina Drummond are working with families at GOSH to plan a special birthday celebration for the super staff and volunteers at the hospital. The project ends with a birthday tea dance in October, which will bring together staff and volunteers from across GOSH, invited to attend by patients and their families.

Families planning the tea dance will be invited to design a birthday cake for the NHS, make wishes for its future written on to candles for the cake and create a playlist for the tea dance which will include music which spans the seven decades of the work of the NHS.

This year’s Pride in London Parade takes place on Saturday 7 July and GOSH has been honoured with a place in the procession. Leading the team is Jamie Wilcox, Head of Volunteer Services at GOSH. They will be carrying a banner celebrating 70 years of the NHS, and waving balloons and flags in honour of all the great things that the institution and its staff have done.

We’re collecting stories and memorabilia from patients, workers and volunteers. Can you remember the beginnings of the NHS? Did you come from overseas to work in the NHS? Have you been a porter, a radiographer, a surgeon, a cleaner or held any other post in the NHS?

Contact NHS70@gosh.nhs.uk or use #NHS70 to tell us what you’re doing, and support by sharing your plans! ​​