We provide high quality healthcare services primarily to the residents of East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen, which have a combined population in the region of 530,000.
The NHS was founded on 5 July 1948 as the world's first universal, free at the point of use health system.
Seventy-five years later, those principles remain just as relevant today as the NHS continues to innovate and adapt to meet the needs of new generations, always putting patients at the heart of everything it does.
From the midwives who help bring us into the world, the GPs and pharmacists who are our first port of call when we are sick, the nurses, doctors and other clinicians who care for us in our time of need, the porters and cleaners who keep our hospitals moving, and the hundreds of thousands of dedicated staff and volunteers in between – our people are the driving force in helping us do this.
We're counting down the 75 days to the birthday of NHS. You'll read inspiring stories from patients and staff, see news and pictures from the archives, and have the opportunity to join in competitions.
We hope you'll get involved too, sharing your memories and stories of what the NHS means to you.
Share with us your memories of working for your local NHS, your family connections or care that changed your life.
Show your support for your local hospital charity, ELHT&Me, and wear it blue on Wednesday 5 July 2023 to help us celebrate.
Join us for our Big NHS Tee Off to celebrate 75 years of our incredible NHS and join our charity golf day at Clitheroe Golf Club this summer.
We have asked colleagues and members of the public to share their stories and memories of the NHS from across the last 75 years follow our Instagram page to view stories or browse through our stories below.
“Volunteering is the best thing you can do and I’d recommend anyone who has some spare time to do it.”
“Speaking up about your mental health is daunting but the reality is most of us experience anxiety at some point in our lives. It's a normal and understandable response to stressful situations or trauma.”
“ELHT is showing a big commitment to the health of their diverse communities of East Lancashire.”
“One of the best things about my job is that you never know who is coming through the door and who you may meet. Sometimes we only see the patient for less than five minutes, but they can have a really big impact on your day.”
“The development of technology over the years has greatly improved patient care and allows for a safer, quicker and more effective treatment and diagnosis of patients.”
“I love being an integral part of ELHT, where inclusion is valued. The most special aspect of my job is being able to work with so many amazing people and being part of such a diverse workforce.”
“Working with patients in dermatology is rewarding because the impact of treatment is visible and has a tremendous benefit on their mental wellbeing as well as their skin.”
“It's rewarding to see positive outcomes for patients living with long term skin conditions following the right treatment at the right time alongside education.”
“Ice hockey is a fast sport, which involves working as a team and having the ability to make quick decisions are assets I’ve been able to apply to my role in ELHT’s Fracture Clinic.”
“I am deeply grateful to the clinician and surrounding workforce who saved my life. What other organisation or group of people can claim to give people a life?”
“The team in Theatres is like an extended family. We have so many fabulous people working at ELHT who I am fortunate to work with on a daily basis.”
“My waters went when I was teaching yoga at 41+3 weeks.”
“Knowing that I am making a difference in my patients' lives is the most rewarding aspect of my profession and the thing that keeps me going every day.”
“It’s like magic watching a baby being delivered, and that feeling never left me.”
“I have always liked a faster-paced work environment so the adrenalin of working in emergency care suits me to a tee.”
“The journey of a patient in hospital can be difficult and at times traumatic. The satisfaction I get from seeing a patient’s mood being lifted is what I love most about the job.”
“We have received so much from the NHS over the past 27 years!”
“I’m proud to be a nurse – I wouldn’t do anything different.”
“Due to the institutionalised nature of the military many veterans find the transition into civilian life difficult. It’s our job to help change that.”
“Working in the community is like a family. Everyone seems to know one another, and everyone looks out for one another. Even when things feel challenged the District Nursing teams still go out their way for the community.”
“Working at ELHT has been the best career choice I could have made. Working alongside great people and many teams, positively influencing health outcomes, really has been the best.”
“I have nothing but praise for the NHS, as an employee, and for the care I have received, it has done nothing but its best for me.”
“I have always been a people person and love chatting and helping, so being a receptionist is the perfect role for me. My school reports said: ‘Lynn talks too much’, and when one of my old teachers visited the hospital they smiled and said: ‘perfect role for you, this!’”
“The care Kit received from my colleagues at ELHT was second to none and everything was explained thoroughly to us at every interval.”
“I wanted to reach out and help the Armed Forces community in any way they needed as I believe they are a community we should be supporting.”
“Alfie brings endless joy to everyone he meets and enables us to reach people who otherwise we would not be able to.”
"Meeting the King… well, it’s not something you do every day!”
“Being a midwife is one of the oldest and most important professions in the world. Let’s remember that and be proud of it.”
“I always wanted to be a nurse from being very small and that never waned as I grew up. I wrote to my local hospital The George Eliot in Nuneaton when I was 10 to say I was interested in being a nurse!”
“The Prince's Trust has changed my life more than they will ever know. They believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself, encouraged me, but most of all gave me a chance.”
