NHS time capsule sends a message to the future

Back row left to right: Jack Bramwell, service user; Sue Nield, technical instructor; Richard Kirton, service user; Lee Austen, service user; Daniel Jeff, service user; Sky Liberator, service user Front row, left to right: Jill Dodge, receptionist; John Birch, child and adolescent mental health practitioner; David Capper, practitioner; Jo Needham, Operational Manager; Lacie Bell, service user and Phillipa Dorey, occupational therapist

To mark the 70th year of the NHS, staff and services users have created a time capsule containing messages and memorabilia for NHS staff in 2028.

They attended a special burial ceremony on Monday 20 August, led by Claire Molloy - chief executive of the borough’s community and mental health provider Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust. 

The aim is that future NHS staff will open the time capsule on 5 July 2028, which will be the NHS’s 80th birthday. It contains positive messages from service users about the staff who care for them along with their hopes and wishes for the NHS over the next 10 years. 

It also includes letters from Pennine Care chief executive Claire Molloy and chairwoman Evelyn Asante-Mensah OBE, an NHS 70 pin badge and special edition newsletter produced by the Trust and an old mobile phone, so future staff can see how technology has changed. 

Chief executive Claire Molloy said: “There is so much great work happening across Pennine Care and lots of positive changes across health and social care services as a whole. 

“We thought a time capsule was a nice way to capture how things are now, so our future colleagues can see how much has changed and hopefully improved.

“Regardless of any changes, I’m confident that the NHS still has many, many years in it and lots of promise.  I’m also certain that the dedication and commitment of staff will still be alive in ten years – and beyond.”