Transcript for the ‘Celebrating the NHS at 75’ video embedded in the news story: The University of Leeds celebrates 75 years of the NHS.
(Science historian Dr Kersten Hall, PhD, sits on a chair, smiling at the camera)
Kersten: I once heard the NHS, described as a bunch of strangers, coming together to care for people that they don't know. And I can't remember who said that, but I certainly don't think that you can put it any better than that.
(Peter Wheatstone, Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Group chairman for the University of Leeds-led FOxTROT bowel cancer trial and bowel cancer survivor, talks to the camera. He wears a white top and glasses.)
Peter: I was a bowel cancer patient in 2014, following which I decided to get involved in helping researchers in clinical trials, particularly ones in Leeds, where are were researching the effect of chemotherapy, if parties get before surgery to remove the tumour, as well as possibly after, and many other the trials.
And I do that because I'm so grateful for the care that I received from the NHS when I was ill.
(Dr Freda May Cox sits in a chair, beside her are some birthday balloons)
Interviewer speaking to Dr Freda May: You were 100 on the 8th of June.
Freda: Yes.
Interviewer: Weren’t you, 2023?
Freda: Yeah.
Interviewer: And born on the 8th of June, 1923.
Freda: Yes
Interviewer: And you’re looking well on it, aren’t you?
(Freda laughs)
(Freda holds up a card bearing an image of King Charles and Queen Camilla)
Interviewer: There’s the card that you got from the king and the queen?
Freda: Yes
(An image of Dr Freda’s medical certificate, followed by a newspaper clipping of her talking about her experience as an NHS doctor)
Interviewer: So, you qualified in 1948, didn't you?
Freda: Yes.
Interviewer: On the 30th of July?
Freda: Yes.
Interviewer: And you went to Leeds medical school. That was just 25 days after the creation of the NHS.
(Professor Craig Jordan OBE, the ‘father of Tamoxifen’, sits in a chair, wearing a grey suit.)
Craig: On this anniversary, if asked what my impressions of the National Health Service, it would be the unexpected.
In my house in Cheshire, where I was growing up, probably about six, seven years old, my mother was rushed into hospital and she stayed in hospital, then a nursing home and then she went to where her husband and she had had their honeymoon and she forced him to walk down the pier and back every day.
In her later life, why I asked she did that, was it a very happy memory? And she said, no, Craig, I had to live because of you.
(Benjamin Cowell, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust Legal Services Manager and University of Leeds graduate, sits at a desk in an office, with a noticeboard on the wall next to him)
Benjamin: The NHS is a second career for me. I joined in 2014 following a six-year stint as a uniformed operational police officer with West Yorkshire Police.
Now I'm really, really proud to work for the NHS. It's an absolute institution, it's a role model on a global scale and it needs to be protected at all costs.
(Professor David Sebag-Montefiore talks to the camera, wearing a suit and glasses)
David: I've worked in the NHS now for 40 years and it's been a very special part of my life.
For me, it's all about people. Looking after patients and their families with cancer. And working as teams with dedicated, outstanding staff to make a difference for patients.
It's also been fantastic to see the progress we've made through our research that has transformed the lives of patients in Leeds, Yorkshire and beyond.n
Kersten: What does the NHS mean to me? Two things.
(He rolls up his shirt sleeve to show the camera a small white disc attached to his upper left arm.)
First of them is that sensor patch I wear in my arm to measure my blood glucose. That helps to manage my diabetes.
The second is what's in this pen here.
(He reaches into a pocket in his jeans and pulls out an object that looks like a pen, and takes off the lid)
Kersten: So that's insulin that I have to inject myself with about four times a day to keep the type one diabetes under control.
Without that (he points to the sensor patch) life is difficult to manage. Without that (he shows the pen to the camera) I’d be dead. And that's what the NHS means to me.
(Freda sits in a purple armchair)
Freda: I felt proud of being in the NHS. I helped a lot of children.
(Professor Craig Jordan OBE, sits in his chair)
Craig: So thank you, the National Health Service and what I've been able to do in my world of medicine, has saved millions of women's lives around the world, Thank you, NHS.
Peter: As I've experienced treatment through the NHS, I've become simply amazed at the dedication of staff who offer treatment in all sorts of circumstances. And for example, during the pandemic and the dedication they show, as well as getting involved in research as part of their role, I find it simply amazing at times how dedicated they are and the hours that they work.
(Benjamin Cowell smiles at the camera.)
Benjamin: So I'd just like to say a very big happy and healthy 75th birthday to the National Health Service.