This is a special time for everyone in the NHS and for the nation.
Our premier public service, the NHS, is 70 years old.All the talk is of its achievements and its sustainability.
Achievements; the first national immunisation programme, heart and liver transplants, the first testable baby, the breast screening programmes, the start of the largest e-health service in the world NHS Direct. Bowel cancer screening programmes, the nation wide smoking ban and cessation programmes.There is much to be proud of. All these and more.
Most of them have come about by collegiate practice, collaboration and people working together.
We know the NHS has had plenty of top-down changes. We are going full circle. By the looks of it back to what looks very like strategic health authorities!
It’s doubtful that any of the changes has changed anything.
What we know for sure is sharing the good things we do, showing everyone what good looks like improves services, makes us more efficient and will take the NHS, confidently, into its next birthday.
The best birthday present we can give each other is a promise. A promise that we will show each other what we are doing, share our successes and explore better ways of doing things.
Thats what the Academy exists for and from us all at the Academy, Happy Birthday and keep sharing.