A HOSPITAL has thanked those involved in creating a statue to celebrate the NHS

Most people will have seen the unique NHS 70 sculpture situated outside the Ward Block at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH), but what many will not realise is the amount of work that went into ensuring it was built in time for the hospital's charity fun day.

An RSH spokesman said: "The heart sculpture was built by the British Ironwork Centre, near Oswestry, using obsolete hospital equipment such as blood pressure monitors, parts of hospital beds, surgical hands, microscopes, a former anaesthetic machine, a broken dialysis machine and wheelchairs.

"When it arrived on site a week before the Fun Day, a team organised by Steve Darlington, Acting Head of Estates at RSH, worked around the clock to make sure it was not only up in time but looked fantastic for the big unveiling.

"Graham Rogers, of J Rogers and Sons, spent several days doing all of the ground works, while Peter Evans, of SRS Electricals, donated all of the electrical work free of charge so the sculpture can be lit up at night time. The electrical supplies were provided courtesy of Rexel UK."

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is the main provider of acute hospital care for almost 500,000 people from Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales.

Patients come from Oswestry, Whitchurch,Telford, Shrewsbury, Ludlow,Bridgnorth, Newtown and Welshpool in Powys.