DH publishes Cornish 60-year health history

The Department of Health has published a new study looking at the health history of a class of Cornish school children from 60 years ago to the present day on the NHS Choices website.

It was commissioned as a way of commemorating the 60th anniversary of the NHS. Visitors to the multi-media web feature can explore each pupil’s life in their own words by clicking on their image in the photograph that sparked the project.

NHS Choices staff tracked down the former pupils from a 1948 class picture at Tintagel Primary School, Cornwall and built a comprehensive picture of the former pupils’ health today and the factors that have influenced it, through a series of in-depth interviews about their life experiences.

Dr Rod Griffiths, the public health expert who over saw the project, said: “At the time the pupils were born, life expectancy lingered around 60. But today two thirds of the class are still alive and living proof that current medical advice works.”

The interactive web feature published on the NHS Choices website and shows that the class has far exceeded average life expectancy.

Health minister, Ben Bradshaw, said: “Prior to the NHS’s inception, healthcare was a luxury not everyone could afford. Infant mortality was around one in 20 and every year, thousands died each year of preventable diseases like pneumonia, meningitis, tuberculosis, diphtheria, and polio.

“The stories from Tintagel Class of ‘48, told through the NHS Choices website illustrates how our health has benefited from life long care through the NHS. The 60th anniversary of the NHS is an ideal time for us to reflect on how healthcare in this country has evolved within our lifetimes.”

The feature is also accompanied by a new NHS 60th anniversary timeline that tells the story of the life-saving developments in the service over the past 60 years. The NHS will celebrate its Diamond Jubilee on 5 July 2008.

Judy Gidzewicz, the current headteacher of Tintagel Primary School, said: “Being involved in this project has highlighted the importance of balanced lifestyle in maintaining our health. In addition, it has also given our children a real sense of their individual role in the making of history."”

Link

http://www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/NHSClassof1948.aspx