Join in a local ‘7-Tea’ party to celebrate the NHS

Community hospitals around Dorset are throwing birthday parties this summer to mark 70 years of the NHS.

On Thursday, 5 July it will be seven decades since the foundation of the National Health Service, and Dorset HealthCare will join NHS Trusts across the country in marking the anniversary.

A string of ‘7-Tea’ parties will take place over the next few weeks, and local communities are invited to join in the fun with staff, patients, carers and fundraising Friends groups.

Events include:

• Saturday, 14 July – Wareham Hospital is holding a garden fete, run by the Friends of Wareham Hospital
• Saturday, 21 July, 2-4pm – The Victoria Hospital in Wimborne will host a garden fete, with a host of stalls raising money for the Hospital Charitable Funds
• Saturday, 21 July – The Westminster Memorial Hospital in Shaftesbury is holding a garden tea party in conjunction with the hospital’s League of Friends, featuring a display of archive photographs and a performance by the Shaftesbury Brass Band.
• Tuesday, 21 August, 9.30am-3pm – St Leonards Hospital and the Dorset Wheelchair Service will host a joint open day, when guests can learn more about the service and the history of the hospital, near Ringwood.

All are welcome to attend – and if you have any old photographs or personal memories of our hospitals, please feel free to share them with staff.

All of Dorset HealthCare’s celebration events are listed on a special NHS 70 webpage, which also features video clips and a selection of vintage photographs. Go to www.dorsethealthcare.nhs.uk/about-us/nhs70

And a new blog has been launched, updated each day throughout July, telling the stories of different nurses across the Trust.

Nurses from inpatient wards, mental health, learning disabilities, sexual health, health visiting, school nursing, minor injuries and midwifery will be talking about what they do and why they love it.

You can read the blog at https://dorsethealthcare.wixsite.com/celebrating-nursing