A MILESTONE year for the health service which continues to evolve was celebrated this month.
Following the celebrations of the 75-year anniversary of the NHS, we are looking back at the history of the service in Colchester.
Colchester Hospital in Turner Road opened in May 1985 following a move from multiple sites across Colchester.
Queen Elizabeth II famously opened the hospital, with just nine wards and 283 beds at the time.
The NHS was formed 37 years before the opening of the Colchester General Hospital.
Before healthcare in Colchester was based mainly in Turner Road it was based at Essex County Hospital in Lexden Road, which opened in 1820.
Now, the hospital has more than 700 beds and cares for hundreds of thousands of people in Colchester and the surrounding area of North East Essex and South Suffolk.
The East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust was formed in July 2018 following the merger of Colchester Hospital University Foundation Trust and Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust.
The trust provides a full range of consultant-led medical care at both the Colchester and Ipswich site.
Pictures take us back in time to the 1980’s and 1990’s when the hospital first opened.
In 75 years, the NHS Has achieved many milestones which have changed the lives of people living in Colchester.
The service is also celebrating 75 years of Windrush as many of the 1,000 passengers on the HMT Empire Windrush took up roles in the NHS.
In 1956 a polio immunisation programme began and by 1958 polio and diphtheria vaccination programmes ensured everyone under the age of 15 was vaccinated.
In 1957 a whooping cough immunisation programme began and by 1973 cases had fallen to nearly zero due to the programme.
In 1960 the first implantable heart pacemaker was used. In 1968 the measles vaccine was introduced.
Free breast screening was introduced to reduce breast cancer deaths in women over 50 in 1988, which was the first of its kind in the world.
The NHS Organ Donor Register was set up for people wishing to donate their organs in 1994.
NHS walk-in services were introduced to offer easy access to a range of services in 2000.
In 2020 the NHS became the first health system in the world to commit to become carbon net zero.
The service has achieved many more throughout the years.
Open - the reception area for the new casualty and emergency ward in 1985
Surgery - surgical teams with a patient at the hospital in October 1988
Equipement - Pete Tebbs sterilises surgical equipment in June 1994
Science - bio medical scientist Pam Line checks blood samples
Care - nurse Tracy Newman treates Andy ruston in the emergency department in 1993
Team - doctors and nurses at the hospital in March 1995
Notes - doctor Imran Ramjan writing up patient notes in 1995
Treatment - nurse Julia Doubleday helped patient Chris Titchmarsh as he was discharged in March 1995
Used - the hospital in 1985 when patients began to use it
Welcome - nurses Pauline Khaira and Lindsay Lane in the casaulty department in 1994
Do you recognise yourself in any of these pictures? Email gazette.newsdesk@newsquest.co.uk with your memories.
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