Nurses scrub up to celebrate 70 years of caring (and uniforms) on NHS anniversary
SINCE the NHS was launched 70 years ago, medicine has advanced leaps and bounds. But so too have the uniforms worn by those who care for us – as this photo shows.
While the colours of their crisp blue and white uniforms make these nurses instantly recognisable, that is where the similarity ends.
Over the decades the pinafores, caps and dresses have been abandoned one by one, with today’s nurses wearing comfy trousers and matching tunics. Representing the changing face of the health service were nine nurses working at the hospital where the NHS was launched. Trafford General Hospital in Greater Manchester was where health secretary Aneurin Bevan introduced the National Health Service back in 1948.
The nurses explained how caps went out of fashion in the 1990s over fears they would attract bacteria, while trousers have only been introduced in recent years. It was one of many events taking place across the country yesterday to celebrate the NHS’s 70th anniversary.
Prince Charles attended a party at the Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan hospital in Ebbw Vale, South Wales, while Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and NHS head Simon Stevens were among the 2,200 who gathered for a special service in Westminster Abbey. And throughout the day the NHS logo was projected onto famous landmarks, including the Houses of Parliament and the Eden project in Cornwall.