Party time: health secretary Frank Dobson and the 'first NHS patient' Sylvia Diggory returned to Trafford General Hospital, where Aneurin Bevan launched the health service in 1948, to celebrate its 50th anniversary on Sunday (main picture). Meanwhile (from top), June Catterall (nee Salisbury), the first baby born into the NHS on 5 July 1948, went back to North Manchester General Hospital to meet Jack Topping - born 5 July this year - and his mother Vicky.

St Thomas' Hospital, London, was transformed into a giant birthday cake with five candles on the roof. Welsh secretary Ron Davies marked the big day by unveiling a new portrait of Bevan in the boardroom of Heath Hospital, Cardiff.