Celebrating NHS 75
As the NHS marks its 75th birthday, Helen Thomas, CEO of Digital Health and Care Wales, reflects on the dramatic changes we have seen in healthcare since the health service’s inception.
Today marks a special occasion as the NHS celebrates its 75th birthday. The creation of our National Health Service, driven by Aneurin Bevan’s vision to provide health care to all - free at the point of access, is an important part of our history. Very few people – if any – now working in the NHS had been born when it began and it can be easy to take it for granted. For many of us, it is something that has always been there. But that is why it’s so important to mark occasions like today and recognise how far we’ve come.
Personally, I am so proud to be working for NHS Wales. My career in the NHS has allowed me to work with some of the most resolute and inspiring people, whose focus has always been to put people first. The NHS is something that means a lot to me.
While today is about celebrating, it would be remiss to not acknowledge the significant challenges currently facing health services across the UK. These are more prevalent than ever following the COVID-19 pandemic, which challenged us all, particularly those working in health and care, in unprecedented ways. But I genuinely believe the NHS remains something to be supported and cherished. I do not know what we would do without it.
The last 75 years have seen so much change across the whole of society. Many ways in which we now live our day to day lives would have been incomprehensible in 1948, when Britain was still emerging from the social and economic impact of the Second World War.
One of the biggest changes has been the development and advances of digital in all aspects of our lives. Digital now plays such a significant role for us all, especially since the pandemic.
In health care we have seen significant improvements in treatment greatly accelerated by the introduction of digital tools and products. Having gone from the most basic of computers just a few decades ago, Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) is now supporting our NHS partners to replace paper with digital patient notes, use digital solutions to support care for cancer patients, use a series of digital platforms to allow clinicians to share and access key patient information and update prescribing – all resulting in better care and services for patients.
We are also helping people become more empowered in the management of their health and care with the development of the NHS Wales app, which gives people access to key information and services via their mobile phone. And we are making better use of data to provide insight and improve how services are delivered and accessed by patients.
It is such an exciting time for digital health services, with a significant amount of work taking place and so much more that we want to do. As we reflect on the last 75 years, who knows what the next 75 years will hold? The advances in digital are running at a faster pace than ever. So much progress is being made and there are so many opportunities for digital to help with the challenges facing the health service through improving access to services and supporting people to maintain good health and wellbeing. We want to use digital and data to drive service improvement and development and, importantly, we want to support digital inclusion, ensuring these developments benefit everyone.
While the future for digital health and care is exciting, I strongly believe that people will always be at the heart of the NHS. Our organisation is about people creating digital tools to help other people. So let us use today’s celebrations to reflect on the achievements made by all those who have worked- and are still working in NHS Wales - and thank them for their commitment and dedication. Without them we would not have reached today’s fantastic milestone for our health service.