Staff and patients joined together at St Stephens Gate Medical Practice to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the NHS.

Eastern Daily Press: Staff and patients joined together at St Stephens Gate Medical Practice to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the NHS. Photo: St Stephens Gate Medical PracticeStaff and patients joined together at St Stephens Gate Medical Practice to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the NHS. Photo: St Stephens Gate Medical Practice (Image: St Stephens Gate Medical Practice)

Members of the Patient Participation Group are inviting patients to write down their memories of the NHS to celebrate what it means to them.

The special books will be at Newmarket Road Surgery and St Stephens Gate, Wessex Street, for the next week. Patients can add pictures and stories to the visitor-style books on any aspect of the care they or loved ones have received over the years.

James Foster, executive manager, said: 'Despite its challenges, the NHS is consistently judged to be the best in the world. However, the NHS isn't just a large institution.

'The NHS is made up of a nurse who went the extra mile, or a midwife who was still cheerful at midnight half way through a long birth. It's a GP who doggedly works out a tricky diagnosis, a friendly receptionist with time to listen, or someone who took the trouble to really explain how to help a loved one.

'We hope these books will allow people to recall these moments and we will be keeping the books on site for a week or so and we hope our patients will help us fill all the pages.'

The surgery plans to donate the books to the Norfolk Archives so these memories can be saved for future generations.