East Cheshire NHS 75th birthday celebrations

Above: The winning cake was baked by Aurora Bautista, a Healthcare Assistant

Staff, patients and visitors came together earlier this week to celebrate the 75th birthday of the NHS with a series of community and staff engagement events.

The day started with a Great British Bake-Off inspired Birthday cake competition for staff. 

Chief Executive, Ged Murphy and Chair, Aislinn O’Dwyer were joined on the judging panel by Catering Manager, Jason Worrell and Non-Executive Director Joanne Newton – all blown away by the skills and precision demonstrated in the ‘showstoppers’!

The winning cake was baked by Aurora Bautista, a Healthcare Assistant on Ward 3 who said “I’m so happy to have won – I didn’t expect it at all! I love baking, it’s my passion, so I’m really grateful that the judges chose my chocolate and ganache cake!”

The cakes were sold to patients, staff and visitors at the main entrance of Macclesfield Hospital and over £250 was raised for the Trust charity. 

Crowds then gathered by the duck pond at Macclesfield Hospital to witness the burial of the Trust’s time capsule – filled with memorabilia from the present day – to be unearthed in 25 years on the 100th anniversary of the NHS.

Chair, Aislinn O’Dwyer led the proceedings with some of her own special memories of the NHS, followed by a special thanks to local brass band ‘Macclesfield Brass’ who entertained the crowds with a selection of well-known songs from past and present.

Aislinn, who joined the NHS in 1976 as a student nurse said, “My Dad joined the NHS in 1948 as a GP in the Northeast of England in a mining village, where prior to the NHS, the practice had a runner who used to go out and collect sixpence from the families who could afford it in order to be able to get health services. It’s quite hard to imagine that now, but I know it to be true. 

“He talked about the NHS all his working life, and he thought that once he could tackle the difficult problems like the infectious disease’s measles and TB with vaccinations and antibiotics it was all going to be about prevention. Well, that’s where we are today, and that’s where we need to be in order to be able to maintain the excellence of the NHS. Let’s focus more on prevention”.

Following the burial of the time capsule, celebrations continued over at Congleton War Memorial Hospital, where an ‘NHS Big Tea’ event took place. Staff and patients participated in games reminiscent of the 1940’s such as bingo, quoits and darts, while members of the nursing team wore historic dress.

Jo Hodgkinson, Senior Sister at Congleton’s Aston Unit said. “It’s a privilege to work at the NHS and I could not be prouder than I am today for the role we all have in providing the best care possible for our communities.”

Ken Proctor, one of the patients at Congleton War Memorial Hospital, reminisced, “I was a young lad when the NHS launched in 1948 and I vividly remember my father taking us all into the drawing room to listen to the announcement on our wireless that healthcare from this day onwards was available for everybody, not just those who could afford it. And here we are today celebrating 75 years of an amazing service.” 

To round off the day, staff at Knutsford Community Hospital took part in a 1948 themed quiz which was jointly won by the Macclesfield and Knutsford care community teams. 

Katrina Oliver, Knutsford Care Community Discharge Manager said, “It was absolutely brilliant to celebrate the NHS 75th anniversary and win the quiz alongside our Macclesfield community colleagues. 

“As community teams we play such a large part in the wider Trust and it was lovely to get together to celebrate.”

Finally, the Trust would like to give a huge thanks to everyone who sent in a Birthday card, particularly Puss Bank Primary School School, Park Lane Primary School and 1^st Broken Cross Brownies for their creative submissions which are now on display in Macclesfield Hospital.