5 July 2023 marks 75 years of the NHS. Treating over a million people a day in England, the NHS touches all of our lives.

As we celebrate the 75th birthday of the NHS, it’s an opportune moment to recognise the extraordinarily dedicated and selfless health service staff, and those who work or volunteer alongside them, who make the NHS what it is today: the institution that our fellow citizens say makes them most proud to be British.

Throughout April and May, NHS England and Fujifilm UK launched a photography competition in partnership, to celebrate 75 years of the NHS. The competition offered an opportunity for staff and volunteers to share – through photos – their personal stories across five categories. Now, viewers are given the opportunity to see these unique perspectives in the Our NHS at 75 online exhibition, and in-person at the FUJIFILM House of Photography in London.

We are excited to celebrate contributions from people across the Service, from staff on the frontline who are delivering direct care to patients, to those who are behind the scenes but still making a vital difference to people’s lives.

Competition Winners

Our Care winner

This category is to capture that core value – whether it is care to patients, volunteers, or to each other as colleagues.

We’ve got you

You’ve got this.

Ewa Gasior

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Our Environment winner

This category explores NHS grounds and buildings – indoors and out – and focuses on how individuals, teams and NHS bodies are working together to integrate sustainability into our Service.

Responding to you at all times

This photo shows that, no matter what, the NHS will be there for you in your time of need. This photo was taken during the ‘Beast from the East’ in South Devon. Despite the weather and difficult conditions, we continued to provide the best possible care to our patients.

Joe Cartwright

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Our Innovations winner

This category celebrates innovation across the NHS in all its forms – from cutting edge treatments to our brilliant people pioneering ways to improve services.

The Solution

This image was taken on Christmas Eve 2020 in an NHS COVID-19 vaccination clinic. The NHS COVID-19 vaccine programme was the solution to getting society out of the pandemic. This picture depicts used vaccine vials in an orange sharps bin. In 2020 the NHS faced one of its biggest challenges and, as one, we stepped up for our people.

Wasim Baqir

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Our Partners winner

This category is to celebrate the crucial role those partnerships play in helping us deliver the best possible care for patients.

Paul and Flo

Flo is a freelance hairdresser funded by the Royal Free Charity, the NHS partner of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. Flo visits wards once a week, providing a cut and wash services and nail filing for patients who are in hospital for longer periods of time. In this photograph Flo is giving Paul a shave.

Mary McConnell and Jenny Brodie

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Our People winner

This category recognises individuals and teams who have put their own unique stamp on the NHS over the years – from the frontline to behind the scenes.

Dedication

We call her “Mother Obe”. She started her career as a nurse at the age of 18 and for 47 years she’s been a dedicated role model and mentor to us all.

Emmanuel Espiritu

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

See the shortlist

Competition partner: Fujifilm UK

Fujifilm UK is proud to partner with the NHS in celebrating 75 years of our health service.

With its founding heritage in photography, Fujifilm has since adapted and diversified, using its leading proprietary technologies to provide innovative products and services that contribute to the advancement of culture, science, technology and industry – with a focus on healthcare, diagnostics and life sciences.

Bringing together these two focus areas, Fujifilm is proud to present the Our NHS at 75 photo exhibition, made up of the 75 shortlisted images. Held at the flagship FUJIFILM House of Photography in the heart of London’s Covent Garden, the free exhibition is on display from 5 July – 31 August 2023.

Find out more about the Our NHS at 75 exhibition at the FUJIFILM House of Photography here.

Meet our judges

Portrait of Dame Ruth May Portrait of Dame Ruth May

Dame Ruth May

Chief Nursing Officer, NHS England

Ruth enjoyed national appointments with NHS Improvement and Monitor, as well as regional and trust leadership roles, before becoming the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for England in January 2019.

In June 2022, as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Honours, Ruth was awarded a DBE for her services to nursing, midwifery and the NHS since she started her nurse training in 1985. Upon receiving her Damehood, Ruth recognised the expertise of nursing and midwifery colleagues in caring for people at every stage of their lives and the vital role that the professions and care staff played during the pandemic. Ruth has led the nursing, midwifery and care professions’ response to COVID-19 in England and led collaborative work with UK CNO colleagues, the NMC and trade unions to ensure agreement and consistent messaging on key issues.

She is passionate about nurturing the next generation of NHS nursing and midwifery leaders and encouraging professional development opportunities. This includes advocating for improved mental health awareness, championing volunteer activity to support the frontline workforce, and she is a vocal supporter of the WRES agenda and increased diversity across the NHS.

Proud mum to her wonderful daughter, Ruth is a great believer in a healthy professional and home life balance for all.

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Portrait of Dr Habib Naqvi Portrait of Dr Habib Naqvi

Dr Habib Naqvi

Chief Executive, NHS Race and Health Observatory

Dr Habib Naqvi is Chief Executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, which works to identify and tackle ethnic inequalities in health and care by facilitating research, making health policy recommendations, and enabling long-term transformational change.

Habib joined the NHS in 2001, managing large public health research programmes in the South West of England. He spent several years working at the Department of Health and Social Care where he led national equality and diversity policy, including on the health sector’s response to the UK government’s review of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

He joined NHS England in 2013, where he directed the development and implementation of national health equity programmes for patients and communities and the NHS workforce. Habib has spoken and written widely on health equity and has given evidence to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee.

Habib volunteers as a trustee of the Mary Seacole Trust and Board Member at Somerset County Cricket Club. He was awarded an MBE in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to equality and diversity in the NHS, and is listed in the Health Service Journal’s ‘100 most influential people in health’.

Habib is on Twitter: @DrHNaqvi

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Portrait of Dr Ellie Cannon Portrait of Dr Ellie Cannon

Dr Ellie Cannon

GP and broadcaster

Dr Ellie is familiar as the GP for the Mail on Sunday where she writes her weekly health pages. She is part of the ITV This Morning family as one of their regular doctors, appearing on the programme to discuss the latest health headlines and take part in phone ins. Ellie is also a familiar and trusted voice, appearing regularly on programmes such as BBC Breakfast, Jeremy Vine on Channel 5, BBC Newsnight and ITV News. She has conducted regular phone ins for stations such as BBC Radio 5 Live and LBC, providing health advice for listeners.

Ellie has worked for the last 15 years in the same NHS practice in north London and she is a Fellow of the Royal College of GPs.

In 2022 she was named as the GDST Alumna of the Year.

Ellie’s most recent book, Is Your Job Making You Ill? was published in January 2018 and focuses on mental health issues at work. Her first book ‘Keep Calm, The New Mum’s Manual’ for new parents, was released in 2014.

Dr Ellie read medicine at Cambridge University and considers herself a child of the NHS, growing up as the daughter of an NHS consultant.

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Portrait of Victoria Macdonald Portrait of Victoria Macdonald

Victoria Macdonald

Health & Social Care Editor

Victoria Macdonald is an award-winning journalist, who has been covering health and social care issues for Channel 4 News since 1999.

She reports on changes in the NHS - the reforms and the politics - whether it is in hospitals or in the community or, indeed in Westminster.

She closely follows the care system and how it impacts on the elderly and those with disabilities as well as investigating issues, including mental health, maternity, HIV/Aids and TB, and child health.

Victoria is originally from New Zealand.

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Portrait of Lewis Khan Portrait of Lewis Khan

Lewis Khan

Portrait & documentary photographer

Lewis Khan is a photographic artist born and raised in London, working with stills and motion. From an early age, Khan was drawn to the tactile and immediate nature of photography, using the camera as a means to engage with the world around him.

His portrait based practice is a study of emotion, relationships and belonging. With a keen eye for observation and a personal interest in community as a driving force in his work, Khan has produced an impressive portfolio of imagery that both acts as social commentary, and immerses him physically in the places, groups, and relationships pictured in his photographs.

Landmark bodies of work include ‘Theatre’, a personal project that saw Khan spend four years inside two London general hospitals to paint an intimate portrait of the NHS during a turbulent time. His photographs bear witness to our collective humanity, and the strength and fragility of all those who work in the health service. A limited edition book by the same name was published by The Lost Light Recordings at the height of the 2020 pandemic.

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Portrait of Theo Georghiades Portrait of Theo Georghiades

Theo Georghiades

General Manager Imaging Solutions, Fujifilm UK

Theo Georghiades is the General Manager of Fujifilm UK’s Imaging Solutions division, covering all things from photo taking to photo making – from INSTAX instant cameras and printers, leading mirrorless digital cameras, broadcast and cine lenses, through to photo printing, homewares and personalised gifting.

Theo began his career with Fujifilm UK soon after his graduation in 1998 from the University of Westminster with a BSc Photography degree, first beginning in customer service and swiftly moving through to sales and product management in the digital camera team. Now, he heads up the team across the whole range of products and services on offer.

With a near-25-year career with Fujifilm, Theo is no stranger to appraising a photograph; his passion lies in the ability that photography holds to tell stories in a universal language, whether a photographer is an amateur or professional, using a smartphone camera or shooting on one of Fujifilm’s leading GFX and X Series digital range.

Twitter: @Fujifilm_TG
Instagram: @fujifilmuk_tg

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Selecting our winners

See the shortlist