Former Wrightington Hospital patient shares rare photo taken in the year the NHS was born

The former patient, who only wants to be called Clifford, sent us the black and white image of himself as one of several patients being looked after at the hospital in 1948: the year the NHS was launched.

And not only is this year the 75th anniversary of the service, it is also 90 years since Wrightington Hospital treated its first patients.

Clifford, who used to live in Nelson and now is a resident of Formby, was already very familiar with the staff and set-up at Wrightington, having been kept there with tuberculosis of the hip from 1939 to 1943.

It is a condition that has continued to dog him physically ever since and limited his physical activities but he says members of his family have gone on to successes, including his sons who excelled in football and athletics.

He added: “It was very strict at Wrightington but the nurses were great.

"I remember you could only have pencils rather than pens because they didn’t want you to be marking the bed linen. Imagine that happening these days!

"I’m not sure that they were doing much to cure me back then, apart from some excruciating traction in 1939 where they tried to straighten my leg. In those days it was more about preventing me from spreading TB to anyone else.

"If you look on the picture, those cubicles at the back were for people with TB of the lungs.

"I look back fondly on Wrightington and it is still great today."