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Episode 3

Alex Brooker charts the story of the NHS through the voices of the people whose lives it has affected. This episode covers 1997 to the present day.

Alex Brooker continues to chart the history of the National Health Service via the treasured memories of patients and staff whose lives it has affected since its inception in 1948.

This episode covers 1997 to the present day and unveils a whole host of unique, highly personal artefacts. These include the homemade badges dedicated to the first surgeons to carry out gender reassignment surgery after it became available on the NHS, a nurse's uniform cherished since it was used in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics and teddy bears lovingly made from the clothes of Ellen Linstead, one of the victims of the notorious Mid-Staffordshire abuse scandal in 2006.

This is a period in which the ever-expanding and ever more diverse institution has grown unwieldy and almost impossibly expensive to manage. Budget cuts, privatisation and hospital closures have become commonplace - but the public aren't prepared to see it disappear without a fight.

Christine Wharrier and Peter Doyle wanted their NHS to keep pace with a society that no longer tolerated unequal conditions for men and women at work. They share the 'thank you' cards they were sent after they fought and won an extraordinary equal pay deal for female NHS employees, one of the biggest achieved in Europe at that time.

The programme meets Chidi Ejimofo, consultant in emergency medicine, as he unfurls the huge placard he has kept ever since he protested against closures at Lewisham Hospital. And Jonny Banger shares the prototype of the T-shirt he designed in support of the junior doctors' strike, inspired by the treatment his mum received on the NHS.

59 minutes

Last on

Thu 6 Jul 2023 02:50

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Music Played

  • Lenny Kravitz

    Are You Gonna Go My Way

  • The Verve

    Bitter Sweet Symphony

  • Daniel Bedingfield

    Gotta Get Thru This

  • Belle and Sebastian

    The Boy With the Arab Strap

  • Simon & Garfunkel

    The Boxer

  • Coronation Street

    Theme

  • Lenny Kravitz

    It Ain't Over 'til It's Over

  • Pixie Lott

    Boys & Girls

  • Le Tigre

    Deceptacon

  • Snow Patrol

    Take Back The City

  • Basement Jaxx

    Romeo

  • The Sabres of Paradise

    Smokebelch II

  • Strawbs

    Part of the Union

  • The xx

    Islands

  • Snow Patrol

    Chasing Cars

  • 叠箩枚谤办

    Immature

  • DNS

    Mad World

  • Zombie Nation

    Kernkraft 400 (DJ Gius Mix)

  • Muse

    Time Is Running Out

  • Goldfrapp

    Ooh La La

  • Florence + The Machine

    Spectrum

  • M.I.A.

    Paper Planes

  • Arctic Monkeys

    Crying Lightning

  • Strange Cargo

    The Name of The Wave

  • Elastica

    Connection

  • David Guetta

    Titanium (feat. Sia)

  • Amy Winehouse

    Back To Black

  • Gorillaz

    Feel Good Inc

  • Labrinth

    Earthquake (feat. Tinie Tempah)

  • Lily Allen

    The Fear

  • Bon Iver

    Skinny Love

  • Kate Nash

    Foundations

  • Daft Punk

    Digital Love

  • Keane

    Everybody's Changing

  • Skepta

    Shutdown

  • Clean Bandit

    Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson)

  • Air

    Kelly Watch The Stars

  • The Go! Team

    Ladyflash

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Alex Brooker
Series Producer Zoe Jewell
Executive Producer Eve Kay
Production Company 7 Wonder Productions

Broadcasts

How much do you know about the NHS? Test your knowledge and find out what it鈥檚 like to be a nurse

Visit The Open University to find out more about the NHS.

The University of Warwick: People's History of the NHS

For more on the history of the NHS, go to Warwick University鈥檚 site.