NHS Awarded St Georges Cross for 73 Years’ Service

Her Majesty the Queen has awarded the NHS with the George Cross for 73 years of dedicated service and for their collective response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In response to this unprecedented honour, bestowed collectively for only the third time, NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens, said that the “darkness” of the last 16 months had brought out the best in health and care staff and he paid tribute to everyone in the NHS and beyond who had played their part.

“This unprecedented award rightly recognises the skill and compassion and the fortitude of staff right across the National Health Service – the nurses, the paramedics, the doctors, the cleaners, the therapists, the entire team– who under the most demanding of circumstances have responded to the worst pandemic in a century and the greatest challenge this country has faced since the Second World War.

“Out of those dark times have come the best of what it means to be a carer and a health professional.

“In the face of adversity, we have seen extraordinary teamwork, not just across the NHS but involving hundreds of thousands of volunteers, millions of carers, key workers and the British public who have played an indispensable role in helping the health service to look after many hundreds of thousands of seriously ill patients with coronavirus.

“And so, as we congratulate staff across the health service on this award, we recognise that completing the NHS COVID vaccination programme which is in the final stages is now the surest way out of this pandemic and provides a sense of hope.”

Jump to top