Your NHS: Professor Michael Schofield, Chairman of Dorset Community NHS Trust

Chairman of Dorset Community NHS Trust

The National Health Service is one of the most highly valued and distinctive features of British life and its fiftieth anniversary is a very important occasion. The National Liaison Co-ordinating Group, which is overseeing the arrangements, consists of a broad cross-section of the NHS including patients, doctors, nurses, other staff, trade unions, voluntary organisations and managers throughout the United Kingdom.

"We are working together enthusiastically with a threefold purpose:

to celebrate the achievements of the NHS and all who have contributed to its development over the last fifty years;

to reaffirm our faith in a publicly funded health service in which care is given according to patients' needs;

to look forward to the exciting developments which we are sure the next fifty years will bring.

"We hope there will be figurehead national events throughout the year and especially round the actual birth date of 5 July. Even more importantly, we hope that these will be only the tip of the iceberg and that in every hospital, clinic or doctor's surgery, staff and patients locally will come together to celebrate in whatever way they wish. The response so far is most encouraging."