Lord Mayor plants a tree at the RD&E to celebrate 75 years of the NHS

Published: 5 July 2023

The Lord Mayor of Exeter Cllr Kevin Mitchell took part in a tree planting ceremony at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital to mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS.

Cllr Mitchell works for the NHS in Exeter as a cancer nurse and has chosen Force as his mayoral charity for the year. He is hoping to raise enough funds to refurbish the Oncology Outpatients Department during his mayoral year.

Cllr Mitchell said: “It was a great privilege to be a small part in the 75th NHS anniversary celebrations at the RD&E. I am extremely appreciative of the care I and my loved ones have received over the years within our NHS.

“I am also personally very proud of all my colleagues past and present within the NHS, who on a daily basis do or have done an amazing job in often challenging circumstances. Happy 75th and long may our NHS continue.”

The National Health Service was founded on 5 July in 1948, as the first universal health system to be available to all, free at the point of delivery.

Since 1948, the NHS has always evolved and adapted to meet the needs of each successive generation.

From Britain’s first kidney transplant in 1960, to Europe’s first liver transplant in 1968. From the world’s first CT scan on a patient in 1971, revolutionising the way doctors examine the body, to the world’s first test-tube baby born in 1978.

Large-scale vaccination programmes protected children from whooping cough, measles and tuberculosis, and in 1999 the meningitis C vaccine was offered nationally in a world first.

The NHS has delivered huge medical advances, including the world’s first liver, heart and lung transplant in 1987, pioneering new treatments, such as bionic eyes and, in more recent times, the world’s first rapid whole genome sequencing service for seriously ill babies and children.

Today the NHS treats over a million people a day in England.