A very Happy 72nd Birthday to our local NHS, and a HUGE thank you to our NHS Heroes!
Today, local MP for Carshalton and Wallington, Elliot Colburn, joined with his neighbours to take part in the nationwide Clap for the NHS, wishing the NHS a happy 72nd Birthday, and thanking staff and volunteers for their incredible contribution.
The National Health Service (NHS) was launched on the 5th July 1948, delivering healthcare free at the point of use, and has been the foundation of society in the UK ever since. Locally, Queen Mary laid the foundation stone for St Helier Hospital in March 1938, with the hospitals first patients arriving in 1941.
Commenting afterwards, MP for Carshalton and Wallington, Elliot Colburn said:
“I remember the hairs going up on my arms the first time that we joined with our neighbours to clap for our NHS heroes, and all of our key workers at the beginning of the lockdown, and it was wonderful to repeat that again today, as we wished the NHS a very happy 72nd Birthday.
“Like so many others, I have seen first-hand the amazing contribution that local NHS staff and volunteers carry out in our community, but probably no more so than when they saved my partners life at St Helier Hospital last summer.
“Following that, and having worked in the NHS previously, I will always be a champion for our local NHS staff and volunteers, the organisation as a whole, it’s principles and St Helier Hospital itself, which is why yesterday I welcomed the decision by clinicians to approve £500 million of investment in the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust, delivering improvements to St Helier and building a brand new hospital right here in our Borough.”
The upgrades to St Helier Hospital, together with the brand new specialist emergency care hospital which will be built next to the Royal Marsden, represent a £500 million government investment in the Epsom and St Helier Trust, are planned to be completed by 2025, and cover the borough’s of Merton, Sutton, Epsom, and Reigate and Banstead.
For the full facts around what this will mean for NHS services in our area from 2025 onwards, visit: www.improvinghealthcaretogether.org.uk/faq.