Anenurin Bevan, Minister of Health, on the first day of the National Health Service, 5 July 1948

at Park Hospital, Davyhulme, near Manchester.

JJ

Sylvia Diggory (née Beckingham), then 13, was the first NHS patient. Before she died, Sylvia said:

"Mr Bevan asked me if I understood the significance of the occasion and told me that it was a milestone in history - the most civilised step any country had ever taken, and a day I would remember for the rest of my life - and of course, he was right."