Publish date: 24 November 2023
Picture caption: Felicity Nixon, left, and Karen Simpson at Our NHS Stories Live.
Mid Cheshire hospital workers performed poetry to an audience of hundreds during a national event to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the NHS.
Felicity Nixon, Matron DCSS, and Karen Simpson, Deputy General Manager at Victoria Infirmary Northwich, were among the stars of the show at Our NHS Stories Live in Manchester.
As well as the live performances, a video and poem by Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust staff – which celebrated the work of colleagues across the organisation – was streamed online at https://ournhstories.org.uk/live-2023
At the event on Thursday evening, Karen and Felicity took to the stage to read poems which were created with their teams.
Karen recited A Friendly Presence, which tells of the support provided at Victoria Infirmary Northwich and was written by their management team.
Felicity followed by reading Body Language, which covers the varied work of staff delivering patient care and was created with the Outpatients team at Leighton Hospital.
Hundreds of NHS staff and other audience members attended the national celebration at Aviva Studios on Thursday, 23 November. A video of the event, including the Mid Cheshire performance at 59 minutes 24 seconds - is available at https://ournhstories.org.uk/live-2023
Karen said: “Having the opportunity to participate in the NHS 75th anniversary celebrations through poetry allowed us to truly celebrate Northwich Infirmary and the staff based here as we do feel we have that friendly presence.
“This has given us the opportunity for a wider audience to understand the seldom-heard staff who are core to the NHS functioning; our domestics, receptionists, central management team administrators and managers who all play a vital role in keeping people well, safe, and cared for - just in different ways to our medical staffing, but no less important.”
Felicity said: “I felt it would be interesting and fun to involve the team in creating their own poem, so I was part of a group that worked with poet Beth Calverley.
“It is a collaboration between the arts and health and it has had such a massive and positive impact on the team’s health and wellbeing. It has been lovely to be part of this national project.”
During the evening, staff stories were brought to life through music, poetry, film and dance, with NHS workers starring alongside actors, performers and a live band. There was also a performance created by actor, playwright and director Kwame Kwei-Armah, who played Finlay Newton in the BBC medical drama Casualty.
Our NHS Stories Live was the finale of a six-month programme of creative activity undertaken by thousands of staff in hospitals across England. It was developed as part of an unprecedented national collaboration between 19 hospital trusts - including Mid Cheshire - for the National Arts in Hospitals Network.
As part of Our National Health Stories, staff from Mid Cheshire worked with Beth Calverley to co-create a series of poems. Beth also composed a poem called It’s Not What People Know You Know, It’s Everything Else, which was based on her conversations with staff.
To find out more and to read the poem, please visit mchcharity.org/arts-programme
Karen Simpson at Our NHS Stories Live.
Felicity Nixon at Our NHS Stories Live.
Kwame Kwei-Armah and the performers of Our National Health Stories. Photo credit Chris Payne
