To honour the NHS’s 78th birthday and the first anniversary of the publication of the 10-Year Health Plan for England, NHS England in the South East is celebrating 78 people from across the region whose work is helping deliver the plan’s three shifts: hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.

Behind every shift is a person. These are their stories: NHS England — South East » 78 faces one shared purpose: How the South East is helping deliver the 10 Year Health Plan

The campaign shines a spotlight on colleagues from across provider trusts, integrated care systems and wider NHS services in the South East, showing in human terms how the NHS in our region is changing what care looks and feels like for patients and communities.  

From Medway’s SMART Acute Virtual Hospital to a CDC opening in the Belfry shopping centre in Redhill, from NHS lung scanning trucks based in supermarket car parks to a new ADHD pathway in Surrey and Sussex, the South East is already showing what the future of the NHS looks and feels like – and it is happening now.

Published on 3 July 2025, the 10 Year Health Plan for England sets out how the NHS will be reinvented through three radical shifts in care and delivery. One year on, this regional campaign shows how organisations and staff across the South East are already contributing to that ambition while continuing to provide high-quality care for patients and communities.

31 Community Diagnostic Centres are now open — the highest number per head of population in the country — meaning faster and more convenient access to scans and checks.  

Performance is also moving in the right direction: by March 2026, over 34,000 more people were treated within 18 weeks compared with the previous year, and 64.5% of patients were waiting less than 18 weeks for care.  

Digital access continues to expand rapidly, with over 6.1 million NHS App users across the region, including 1.78 million people using it to order repeat prescriptions in 2025, and GP practices now receiving more than one million online submissions every month. Together, these improvements show the NHS in the South East embracing the 10 year health plan and delivering better, faster care for patients. 

Across every trust, every system and every community in the South East, people are working together – not just to sustain the NHS, but to transform it. That collaboration is what makes the difference. 

Anne Eden, NHS England South East Regional Director, said: “As we mark the NHS’s 78th birthday and the first year of the 10‑Year Health Plan, I’m incredibly proud of the people across the South East who are turning ambition into real change for patients and communities. Whether it’s expanding diagnostic capacity, improving access through the NHS App, or redesigning care so more support is available closer to home, our staff are delivering progress every single day. 

“This campaign shines a light on just a few of the colleagues whose innovation, compassion and determination are shaping the future of the NHS in our region. Their work shows that transformation is happening here and now, and it’s being driven by the people who make our NHS what it is.” 

The NHS was founded on 5 July 1948, meaning 2026 marks its 78th birthday. This campaign not only recognises that milestone, but also offers a timely opportunity to thank the people across the NHS in the South East whose commitment, innovation and compassion continue to shape the future of health and care.  

To every person working in the NHS across the South East – your contribution matters, your work is seen, and this birthday belongs to you.