{"id":48884,"date":"2026-07-09T12:20:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T11:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/?p=48884"},"modified":"2026-07-09T13:03:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:03:49","slug":"nhs-birthday-78-downingstreet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/gu\/news\/nhs-birthday-78-downingstreet\/","title":{"rendered":"Local NHS staff celebrate\u00a0NHS\u00a078th birthday at Downing Street\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Local NHS staff celebrate\u00a0NHS\u00a078th birthday at Downing Street<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
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NHS staff from Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire attended a special reception at 10 Downing Street to celebrate the NHS’s 78th birthday.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The reception, held on Monday 6 July,\u00a0brought together NHS staff from across England to celebrate 78 years since the NHS was founded in 1948, recognising the dedication and achievements of those who have gone above and beyond to deliver outstanding care for patients and support their colleagues and communities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer welcomed more than 100 staff from across the NHS to the event, paying tribute to the work of the NHS in reducing waiting lists, and spoke of his family’s experiences of being cared for.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Staff\u00a0from Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, included:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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  • Lisa Fisher, local\u00a0pharmacist\u00a0and Chair of Community Pharmacy Avon & Wiltshire\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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    • Sarah Dodds,\u00a0Director of Nursing for the City and Weston Hospital Operating Unit\u00a0at Bristol NHS Foundation Trust<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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      • Dr Harsha Gunawardena,\u00a0Divisional Clinical Director for Neurological & Musculoskeletal Sciences (NMSK) Division and a Consultant Rheumatologist at\u00a0Bristol NHS Foundation Trust<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        \u00a0<\/span>Lisa Fisher said:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

        “I feel incredibly honoured to attend this special celebration marking the NHS’s 78th birthday.\u00a0It’s\u00a0a privilege to\u00a0represent\u00a0community pharmacy colleagues across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, whose\u00a0expertise,\u00a0care\u00a0and commitment ensure patients receive essential advice, medicines support and accessible healthcare every day.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

        Harsha\u00a0Guawardena\u00a0said:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \u201cI felt very humbled and proud to be invited to attend the reception at 10 Downing Street, having worked in the NHS in Bristol for over 25 years. It was an amazing day and a pleasure to\u00a0represent\u00a0Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

        Sarah\u00a0Dodds\u00a0said:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \u201cIt was a privilege to attend the 10 Downing Street reception to mark the 78th birthday of the NHS. I felt\u00a0very proud\u00a0to join NHS colleagues from other parts of the country in celebrating the fantastic work that takes place every day in the NHS as part of a wonderful event.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/div>\n

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        NHS staff from Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire attended a special reception at 10 Downing Street to celebrate the NHS’s 78th birthday.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1204,1205,73,105,1206],"class_list":["post-48884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-birthday","tag-downing-street","tag-nhs","tag-nhs-birthday","tag-no10"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48884"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48895,"href":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48884\/revisions\/48895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}