Voices From Our Archive

Discover voices from our archive through these curated excerpts from our collection of oral histories. This page started as our 'Moments of Care' exhibition curated in 2019 and we are now expanding it to cover a range of voices from our collection.

Since 2017 we have been recording oral histories with people across the UK to create the first national archive of NHS history. In 2020 we secured funding from the AHRC through the UKRI Covid-19 Urgency call to create a national collection of personal testimony - this will add an additional 900 interviews to our existing collection.

This funding also secured a permanent home for the whole collection at the British Library. We are currently working in partnership with the British Library to transfer the full interviews. In the interim we have taken the decision to remove access to our archive and whole oral history interviews on this site whilst they are being made accessible at the British Library. Please contact us to enquire about access to whole recordings and where possible we will facilitate this for you.

Hilary Brown

Hilary Brown, a retired NHS Domestic Services manager, remembers her brother, Philip’s, treatment and care at the Christie in the 1950s.

Image of Rajan smiling, donated to accompany his interview

Rajan Madhok

Professor Rajan Madhok moved to the UK in the 1980s to complete his medical training, intending to return to India after qualifying. However, he discovered his passion for the NHS.

Stephanie Davis LeBrun

Born in Sheffield, in 1988, Stephanie Davis LeBrun was a trainee clinical psychologist, pursuing her doctorate with funding from the NHS, at the time of the interview.

Joanne Harding

Joanne Harding has worked for 20 years in drug and alcohol services, and mental health.

Narrow hallway leading through dark to light.

Jeanette Holmes

Jeanette Holmes was born in Sheffield in 1942, before the NHS began.

Joan Meredith

Born in 1925, Joan Meredith trained and worked in social work and later as a psychotherapist.

Belinda Jackson

Belinda Jackson was born in Rochdale in 1961 and by age 18 had started her nurse training at Birch Hill Hospital.

Ruth Edwards

Ruth Edwards was born in 1928 and grew up in a mining family in South East Wales.

Eulon Graham

Eulon Graham was born in Jamaica in 1937 and came to Chorley, Manchester, in the 1960s to train as a nurse.

Hylda Whitehead

Hylda Whitehead was born in 1941 and joined the NHS as a medical secretary after taking short-hand typing and biology at night school.