NHS birthday celebration cost £45,000

Jun 26 2008 by John Rowbotham

AN event to mark the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the NHS was voted a success even though it cost £45,000.

About 15,000 attended NHS’s Lanarkshire’s family fun day in Strathclyde Park on Sunday.

A selection of fitness and sporting activities were laid on and visitors were offered advice on a number of health-related topics including smoking cessation, sun awareness, healthy eating and oral health.

NHS staff carried out 93 health checks and referred 27 people to their GP for follow-up. Over I00 children took part in fitness challenges, and 560 free passes for local fitness classes were given out.

A total of 1300 fruit pots, 1000 alcohol-free cocktails and 1000 bottles of water were given away.

Five-hundred young people and their parents participated in hand hygiene demonstrations.

Hugh Sweeney, NHS Lanarkshire’s employee director, who coordinated the event, said: “The range of events we had on offer led to an impressive turn out and it was certainly a birthday party worth holding!”

“All the sporting events were extremely popular and the health promotion tent was full all day.”

l A selection of photographs from the NHS fun day will appear next week.