Today, the NHS marks 75 years of service to the nation.  As a partner of the NHS, System C would like to congratulate it, and all the people who together make up this wonderful institution, on the remarkable milestone of providing universal healthcare services, free for all at the point of delivery, since 1948.   
 
When you put the NHS activity into numbers it’s astonishing. The NHS sees about 1.3m people a day, which is equal to the entire population of Estonia (or Glasgow).  That staggering amount of activity wouldn’t be possible without its staff.  As an employer, it has one of the world’s largest workforces with around 1.26 million full-time equivalent staff in England.   
 
The NHS touches all our lives.  On a personal level, most of us will have stories of when they were especially grateful for the NHS. Whether treating a loved one or seeing our children born in the care of the NHS, as so many of us have done, or working closely together on a project, as one team, particularly for those of us directly involved with the Covid-19 response – whether helping set up the Nightingale Hospitals, working with individual Trusts and Health Boards, or on national programmes such as vaccinations. The NHS is a core part of who we all are and why we all do what we do. 
 
As a sign of our appreciation, we have donated £7,500 to NHS Charities Together.  It’s the national independent charity caring for the NHS, to help the NHS go further for staff and patients.
 
System C has a strong connection to the NHS, and this September we will be celebrating our own milestone. We will mark 40 years of being in the business of supporting the NHS.  In the same year System C was founded, the NHS was celebrating beginning the UK liver transplant programme and performed its first combined heart and lung transplant and together we’ve shared the many challenges and triumphs over that period. 
 
As one of the main UK based technology providers to the NHS, we’re privileged to support this amazing service daily.  We understand the complexity of UK healthcare and get to see first-hand many of our NHS colleagues who are dedicated to delivering excellent care and transforming services.  Like the rest of the country, we were moved by their unfaltering commitment during Covid-19 and were proud to support the leading immunisation programme with the development of the National Immunisation Management System (NIMS).  
 
All my colleagues at System C place huge value on being able to support the NHS in their professional lives and many of our staff have played a part in shaping the NHS by working in the service previously.  Now they are putting that knowledge and expertise into our solutions to ensure we deliver on our mission of providing the technology with the power to connect and transform health and care outcomes for all.  To recognise the important milestone, we reached out to some of those colleagues to hear their thoughts on the 75th anniversary and some of them are shared below.   
 
Before I leave you to hear what it means to them personally, can I say, from everyone at System C, happy birthday and thank you NHS - we look forward to many more birthdays to come.