2020 has been the most challenging year in NHS history. Over the last few months the NHS has stepped up in ways never seen before to work out how to deliver services differently following lockdown, recruit tens of thousands more staff, returners and volunteers and even build hospitals to respond to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The NHS could not have achieved this without the commitment and skills of our people. And we are thankful for the recognition they have received. But the unprecedented challenge facing the NHS would have been made all but impossible without the help and support of countless individuals and organisations around the country, the key workers, from bus drivers and refuse collectors to care givers and shop workers. And the public too, who embraced the lockdown measures to help protect the NHS and their communities, whether by staying at home, helping their neighbours with the shopping, maintaining social distancing or washing their hands more often. The NHS is grateful to the nation for its efforts – great and small.
We would therefore like to take this moment, the NHS 72nd anniversary, to say Thank You to everyone who has helped us over the past six months to help respond to this global pandemic. We want to project back the warmth and renewed respect for the NHS and our people on to the country as a whole. For the sacrifices made so far, and the continuing efforts to come.