Photography competition provides a snapshot of the NHS at 75 years
Five winners of a photography competition for NHS staff and volunteers to mark 75 years of the health service have been unveiled at the FUJIFILM House of Photography. Images include long-serving nurse ‘Mother Obe’, the NHS COVID-19 vaccination effort and an ambulance battling the ‘Beast from the East’ among the winning images.
The national competition, run by NHS England in partnership with Fujifilm, saw hundreds of staff and volunteers from across the country enter photographs that told their unique stories of what the NHS means to them.
The winners, each of whom represent the broad range of professions across the health service, were picked from a shortlist of 75 photographs across five categories and their pictures were displayed at the NHS 75th anniversary service at Westminster Abbey on July 5.
The winners include a portrait of a nurse at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital who has been looking after patients for 47 years. Nurse Emmanuel Espiritu took the image, entitled ‘Dedication’, depicting a nurse known as Mother Obe who is renowned for sharing nearly half a century of expertise as a mentor to new nurses.
NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: “This competition has provided the perfect opportunity for our incredible staff and volunteers to give a snapshot of life in the NHS, 75 years on from its inception, and we were amazed by the hundreds of brilliant, thought provoking, and inspiring entries from NHS colleagues across the country.”
All of the 75 shortlisted images are displayed in an exhibition titled ‘Our NHS at 75’, at the FUJIFILM House of Photography in Covent Garden, London.
Fujifilm UK managing director Tom Watanabe said: “We know from working with NHS colleagues up and down the country the passion they have for the health service, even in the most challenging times, so we were delighted to help shine a spotlight on some of these fantastic stories. The exhibition will offer the public a unique opportunity to see what happens behind the scenes in our health service every day and it is a fitting way to mark 75 years of the NHS.”
Lead picture: Our Environment category winner, taken by Joe Cartwright, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.
Published on page 15 of the August 2023 issue of RAD Magazine.