This month, our monthly blog post from St George’s comes from Pippa Harper, Media Manager, who tells us all about how St George’s Hospital in Tooting is celebrating the NHS’ 70th birthday on 5 July.

Hi, I’m Pippa, and I’ve worked at St George’s for coming up to four years within the communications team.

NHS Communicators across the country have spent the last six months (and more!) planning NHS 70 – and it’s no different at St George’s.

We’ve been sharing our plans and celebrations via our social media channels (find us here: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) and we’ll be continuing to do so this week, particularly on Thursday. We’d love to hear what you’re doing to celebrate NHS 70 and why you love St George’s – so please tag us in your posts including #NHS70.

How we’re celebrating…

Our first activity on 5 July involves 70 members of staff walking from our former St George's site at Hyde Park Corner, now the Lanesborough Hotel, to our Tooting home.

We’re doing the walk as a nod to the journey St George’s has taken over the years – fundraising for St George’s Hospital Charity as we go! If you’d like to sponsor our walkers, the JustGiving page is available here.

Once our walkers arrive back at St George’s, there will be a heroes’ welcome from their colleagues at our Atkinson Morley Wing tea party which will be officially opened by Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, MP for Tooting.

There will also be a tea party at our Queen Mary’s site. Across both tea parties, there will be a range of activities, so if you’re a patient or visitor passing by, please do pop in to enjoy the celebrations!  

We’ve also curated a special NHS 70 exhibition which is on display throughout July in Ingredients Restaurant (first floor, Lanesborough Wing at St George’s). The exhibition features photos from our archives taken in the late 1940s and 1950s which have been recreated in a modern day setting.

Our Chief Executive, Jacqueline Totterdell, will join 20 members of staff at the Westminster Abbey NHS 70 event on 5 July to celebrate and reflect on the achievements of the last 70 years, and look ahead to the future of the NHS.

You’ll also see St George’s in the media over the coming weeks as we’ve worked with the media to celebrate the diversity of the NHS in its 70th year.

Lorraine Kelly returned to St George’s to thank staff for ITV, while other programmes are yet to be broadcast for BBC – so stay tuned to our Twitter to find out more about those when they are announced.

Our stars of 24 Hours in A&E will also be taking over the continuity announcements on Channel 4, More 4 and Film 4 for the whole day with some special birthday messages alongside colleagues from One Born Every Minute.

The Garden Productions, who make 24 Hours in A&E, have also kindly created a short film celebrating St George’s as a special birthday gift which we’ll launch on Twitter this week.

These are just a few of our celebrations – so do follow us on Twitter to find out more about what we’re getting up to on the day and over the coming weeks!

How do I get involved?

Thank you to everyone involved - it’s going to be a fun day and we’d love for you to share your St George’s stories and how you’re celebrating with us via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

If you have any questions, please email communciations@stgeorges.nhs.uk