Poster entitled 'Putting Quarts in Pint Pots. Your health...don't just drink to it - fight for it!', published by the East London Health project, design by Peter Dunn and Loraine Leeson, 1970s.

This poster looks at the three quarters of a million people who were on hospital waiting lists in the 1970s. Factors include inequality in housing and availability and uses of private healthcare. The poster also looks at East London specifically where people were waiting up to six years for orthopaedic treatment at a time when bed provision in hospitals were being cut by half and 17 out of 27 East London hospitals were to be closed by 1986.

In 1978, the East London Trades Councils wanted to give information about health issues to the local population. This was at a time when cuts were being made to the National Health Service (NHS). The East London Health Project was formed for this task and eight different posters were produced over the two years it existed. Art and modern advertising techniques were both used to draw attention to the issues and were displayed in doctors’ surgeries and other waiting areas. The themes and styles of the posters were developed by a steering group including members of the health workers’ unions NALGO and NUPE, the local Trades Council, and Tower Hamlets health campaign and the artists, Loraine Leeson and Peter Dunn.