From its earliest days, the National Health Service has been represented and has represented itself through moving images -- first in film reels, like this one, and later on television -- in dramas and comedies, in the news, in public health advertisements, and in documentaries of all kinds. This video, 'Here's Health' (preserved by the BFI National Archive and shared by the Wellcome Library), dates from 1948 and was intended to inform and engage the whole British population with the new national health service that was about to open its doors. Today, we often see the National Health Service in action via reality television shows, for example. What has been missing from this wealth of visual sources has been YOUR stories: stories told by and for the people -- staff, patients, carers, activists, visitors and volunteers -- who have made the NHS, from 1948 to the present. For seventy years, you have experienced its successes and failures: we would love to share your stories of them all!
From its earliest days, the National Health Service has been represented and has represented itself through moving images — first in film reels, like this one, and later on television — in dramas and comedies, in the news, in public health advertisements, and in documentaries of all kinds. This video, ‘Here’s Health’ (preserved by the BFI National Archive and shared by the Wellcome Library), dates from 1948 and was intended to inform and engage the whole British population with the new national health service that was about to open its doors.
Today, we often see the National Health Service in action via reality television shows, for example. What has been missing from this wealth of visual sources has been YOUR stories: stories told by and for the people — staff, patients, carers, activists, visitors and volunteers — who have made the NHS, from 1948 to the present. For seventy years, you have experienced its successes and failures: we would love to share your stories of them all!
