NHS 75th birthday celebrations start with launch of OUH Poem

This Wednesday 5 July is the 75th birthday of the NHS, and here at OUH we are marking this milestone with a range of activities and events for staff throughout the week - made possible by the generous support of Oxford Hospitals Charity.

The programme includes:

• the unveiling of 'Our future in focus' tomorrow (Tuesday 4 July) - this is an online and in person exhibition of OUH staff portraits to celebrate NHS 75, which have all been taken by our talented in-house Clinical Photography team
• Thank You events for staff to celebrate NHS 75 at OUH on Wednesday (5 July)
• our annual Staff Recognition Awards event hosted by top broadcaster Simon Thomas at Oxford Town Hall on Thursday evening (6 July)

In addition, OUH staff are taking part in a number of national events to mark NHS 75.

• Three members of our Clinical Photography team are finalists in the 'Our NHS at 75' national photography competition, and their images will be displayed at Fujifilm's House of Photography in London during July and August - the shortlist was published on 21 June.
• Megan Jones (a Fundraising Officer with Oxford Hospitals Charity) is a finalist in the NHS Parliamentary Awards and will be attending the awards ceremony on Wednesday 5 July - Megan was the South East regional winner of the NHS Rising Star Award category.
• Five OUH staff will attend a multi-faith service in Westminster Abbey on Wednesday 5 July.

We are starting the NHS 75th birthday week today by launching the OUH Poem, 'All kinds of bright' which has been created in collaboration with staff across the Trust and through artlink, the Trust's arts programme which is funded by Oxford Hospitals Charity.

Beth Calverley has been co-creating poems with staff teams across OUH since January 2021, and in January 2022 she brought her Poetry Machine onto hospital sites to write poems with staff individually. She also welcomed contributions via an online form and talked to staff online.

'All kinds of bright' was inspired by these conversations, and now a four-minute film of staff reading lines from the poem has been created by colleagues from the Trust's Oxford Medical Illustration (OMI) team - which includes videographers - with Ruth Charity (Arts Lead, Oxford Hospitals Charity).

The film is available to watch on the Trust's YouTube channel.

Terry Roberts, Chief People Officer at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) says: "I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this project. I hope all staff involved have found it a valuable and enriching experience. The OUH Poem project is part of our Growing Stronger Together - Rest, Reflect, Recover staff wellbeing programme and we are grateful to Oxford Hospitals Charity for making it possible."

Ruth Charity, Arts Lead at Oxford Hospitals Charity adds: "Beth Calverley started co-creating poems with OUH staff teams in January 2021 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the Trust's Growing Stronger Together wellbeing programme. Her work shone a light on the work of many different teams and reflected the power of staff to support one another in difficult times.

"The positive responses to these poems from staff led to the idea of the OUH Poem. Through dialogue and engagement, Beth has listened to staff and woven together their words and experiences into this beautiful final piece, which videographers from the Trust's Oxford Medical Illustration (OMI) team have now turned into a short film.

"All kinds of bright is a poem written with staff and for staff. It celebrates their work, their dedication, and the power of being part of our OneTeamOneOUH."

Poet Beth Calverley says: "It was an honour to work with staff across the Trust and to hear each site's unique and shared identities sparkling out. The poem's title, 'All kinds of bright', highlights the theme of illumination that coursed through our conversations with OUH staff during the co-creation process.

"Across many different roles, the staff who I spoke to prided themselves and their colleagues on being swift to pick up on important details of patient care, from a popped spring in a mattress to scientific breakthroughs in the lab.

"This, combined with their shared talent for helping each other to sparkle - or to ask for help - in dark times, is the source of the light imagery that weaves through the voices in this poem."

Pictured: Olivia Freeman, Robin's Ward Sister, Oxford Children's Hospital, reads lines from the poem