Today marks 75 years of the National Health Service - and there are few people on Merseyside who remember life without it.
Founded in 1948 and now treating over a million people a day in England, the NHS was the first universal health system to be available to all, free at the point of delivery. With a history of unprecedented care and innovation, the NHS has continued to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of generations.
From Britain’s first kidney transplant in 1960 to Europe’s first liver transplant in 1968, the world’s first test-tube baby born in 1978 and more recently delivering the first accredited COVID-19 vaccine in the world, many of us couldn't imagine a life without the NHS. Like other colleagues and professions across the UK, Merseyside NHS staff are under great strain at the moment.
Read More:
But at some point in our lives, it's likely we will be thankful for their care for ourselves or a loved one. In our region, we're proud to have both staff who have piloted and perfected research and vital treatments and the establishment of much-needed centres where unique caring and procedures can take place.
The ECHO previously reported how The Royal Liverpool University Hospital - which saw a brand new building open in 2022 - has for decades been at the forefront of care and forged a reputation as a major teaching and research venue, alongside Broadgreen and Liverpool Dental Hospital. Likewise Liverpool Women’s Hospital in Crown Street has a highly-regarded reputation and has seen much change in the city.
In 1985, three hospitals, the Women’s Hospital in Catharine Street, Liverpool Maternity Hospital, and Mill Road Maternity Hospital, joined together under the management of the Liverpool Obstetric and Gynaecology Unit. This became an NHS trust in 1992 and changed its title to the Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Trust in 1994 with the three hospitals merged and moved into the present hospital building in 1995.
Long before that the city became home to St Paul’s Eye and Ear Infirmary in St Paul’s Square - now based at the Royal - and, of course, The Walton Centre is the home of neurosciences expertise and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital has become renowned across the world. But this is only a small part of our history with the NHS, its different Merseyside sites, facilities and local staff, not forgetting a lot of work that takes place behind the scenes.
You can't talk about the history of the NHS on Merseyside without highlighting the incredible work of staff through the generations. The incredible NHS professionals work not only in our hospitals but in GP surgeries, clinics, care homes and out in the community.
From the nurses to the carers, the consultants to the midwives, the researchers to the surgeons and the paramedics to the GPs - they have have touched all of our lives in one way or another through their incredible work and bravery and have been there to help us through some of the most difficult times of our lives.
And the ECHO want to continue to share the incredible stories of these pillars in our communities. To share some of the amazing work our health professionals do day in day out, at the height of the pandemic we asked our readers to nominate an NHS worker who has changed their lives or the lives of others and highlighted just a number of them in the grand scale of inspiring stories and people.
Through the years, we've also heard about the lives of incredible NHS staff who hail from Merseyside. More recently, as part of the Liverpool ECHO's How It Used To Be series, we spoke to midwife Sarah McGrath from the Liverpool Women's Hospital about delivering Merseyside babies for over 30 years and how life for mother's has changed in the city in years gone by.
And this list is by no means comprehensive. There are so many more stories to tell and NHS workers to celebrate.
Today, the NHS has a number of integrated care systems on Merseyside, including the Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust and Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. But whichever role, hospital, unit, service or more under the Merseyside NHS umbrella, thousands upon thoursands all share a common goal in helping the people of our region and beyond.
Do you have a nostalgia story to share? Let us know in the comments section below.
When the NHS was formed in 1948, many of our local hospitals were transferred over to state ownership, either by donation or purchase, which led to the opening of the Royal Liverpool Hospital in 1978 and the closing down of many of the city's specialised clinics. Different generations have seen much change, with some of the buildings which housed these institutions in the past being demolished, making way for new chapters in the city's history.
And in some instances, others have been sold and eventually repurposed. One example is the David Lewis Northern Hospital, which opened in 1902. becoming part of the National Health Service in 1948 and later closed when the Royal Liverpool Hospital opened in 1978.
These images, courtesy of our archives, capture just a number of Merseyside NHS faces through the years and some chapters in history. From different professions to recent work, these offer only a glimpse into the hard work that continues to take place.
Join our Liverpool memories and history Facebook group here.
For more nostalgia stories, sign up to our Liverpool Echo newsletter here.
To help mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS, a number of buildings, historic monuments and other high profile sites across Merseyside are also set to ‘light up’ blue on the evening of July 5. Here's a list below:
- Archway Road Railway Bridge
- Birkenhead Town Hall, Wirral
- Bootle Town Hall
- Floral Pavilion Theatre, Wirral
- Greystone Bridge, Knowsley
- Liverpool ACC Arena
- Liverpool Town Hall
- Mechanical Engineering Building, Liverpool University
- Port of Liverpool Building
- Royal Liver Building, Liverpool
- Southport Town Hall
- St George’s Hall, Liverpool
- The Atkinson
- Wallasey Town Hall, Wirral
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
