The National Human BSE vCJD Memorial surrounded by painted hearts beside St Thomas’ Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road, London, England, UK

National Human BSE vCJD Memorial plaque on the boundary wall of St Thomas’ Hospital in Lambeth, central London. The bronze-coloured plaque bears a tree emblem and the inscription, “In loving memory of the victims of Human BSE (vCJD), Always in our thoughts, Human BSE Foundation.” Human BSE is more commonly associated with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD, a rare and fatal degenerative brain disorder linked to eating beef contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The British BSE outbreak, widely known as the mad cow disease crisis, became a major public health, food safety and political issue during the 1980s and 1990s. The Human BSE Foundation was established by families affected by vCJD to support other bereaved relatives, provide information and commemorate those who lost their lives. Its memorial plaque was installed on the hospital boundary wall facing the Albert Embankment and the River Thames, close to Westminster Bridge and opposite the Palace of Westminster. The older BSE memorial has since become surrounded by thousands of painted red and pink hearts forming part of the National Covid Memorial Wall. Many of the individual hearts contain handwritten names, dates, dedications and personal messages remembering people who died during the coronavirus pandemic. The photograph shows the formal engraved BSE plaque set against the highly personal and evolving background of painted hearts and handwritten tributes. This combination brings together two distinct periods of British public health history and creates a powerful visual record of collective grief, remembrance and bereavement. The riverside wall has become a prominent place of reflection for grieving families, visitors and passers-by on London’s South Bank.