It has been 20 years since the Great Western Hospital in Swindon first opened its doors.

To mark the occasion, staff from the Swindon gathered outside and took a photo of them from above, making up the letters 'GWH'.

A spokesperson from the hospital said: "We were joined by around 100 members of staff, volunteers, retired colleagues and staff from Princess Margaret Hospital who gathered on the expansion land at the GWH site to form the letters ‘GWH’ – to mark 20 years since the hospital opened on 2 December 2002."

The photo was taken in partnership with two other emergency service organisations, Wiltshire Police and Wiltshire Search and Rescue who used drones to capture the arranged staff from the air. 

Drones are a new capability for the Wilts Search and Rescue team, with a project over the last 2 years to train SAR volunteers to the same standard as Police and Fire pilots.

Kevin McNamara, chief executive, said: “Twenty years ago the doors of Great Western Hospital opened for the first time and we’ve gone on to achieve a huge amount over the last two decades.

"Despite the challenges the NHS is facing, I still think we can be ambitious for ourselves, for our community and for our patients. We aren’t slowing down and are always looking at ways to grow and develop the hospital site, following the opening of the new Radiotherapy and Urgent Treatment Centres earlier this year.

"We’ve bought land to expand on to in the near future and look forward to the expansion and integration of urgent and emergency care services starting early next year.

"Thank you to our 5,500 members of staff and volunteers that make up the Great Western family and to every colleague past and present who has worked with us since the hospital opened and even before then at Princess Margaret Hospital.

"Thank you also to every single patient, family member, and visitor who has supported us over the years. and thank you to the people of Swindon and Wiltshire for supporting their local hospital.”

GWH was built to replace the town's former hospital Princess Margaret Hospital, which was decommissioned.

It was designed by Whicheloe Macfarlane and built by Carillion at a cost of £148 million.

It started providing services to patients in on December 2, 2002, and was formally opened by HRH Prince Philip on 28 February 2003.