Project hears the untold stories NHS nurses

A  new project funded by Historic England’s Everyday Heritage Grants is drawing attention to the overlooked histories of our NHS nurses through the decades, writes Claudia Lee.

The project, Moments of Grace, sees nurses who have worked at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, the birthplace of nursing, record accounts of their experiences before, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Moments of Grace focuses on the time nurses spend in hospitals and the extraordinary events, as well as the everyday rituals they experience in their roles.

This exhibition explores time by distilling nurses’ 24-hour presence in the hospital and out in the community into a circular composition, punctuated every hour by original music composed by Nicole Robson.

The soundscape includes the voice of Tim Owen Jones, who works in critical care at the hospital.

He said: “I was with someone just before he died during Covid and a single tear rolled down his cheek.

“I wondered what it meant. No one else saw that. It’s something that is really special. It’s a privilege. But it’s difficult to even say that.

“Do I share that moment with the family? Would they want to know? Would it make it more painful for them?

“I told them that this chap’s music was playing. That I was with him. That I was holding his hand. That the tear rolled down his cheek. And they were
thankful.

“I’m struggling just recounting it again. All the emotions come back.”

The voice of a paediatric nurse, Sarah Daly, from the Children’s Hospital at Home, team also features.

She said: “I guess we help you get better at home when you’re poorly.

“A family we had recently had a baby who has been unwell. She was only eight months and she’s been in and out of hospital for most of those eight months.

“Because of Covid the parents weren’t able to be together in the hospital with her.

“So this baby was now getting confused, seeing mum and dad in the same room because she had never seen it before.

“For us now, we are helping them to be all together. I guess we try to highlight the positive.”

Fifty modern nurses and midwives feature in the installation, including many still working at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital.

It also includes accounts of nurses from the past associated with St Thomas’, such as Mary Seacole, Naomi Mitchison – whose great-granddaughter is leading this project – and Florence Nightingale, represented by archive footage and performance.

A permanent 24-hour physical sound and light installation will be on display at the hospital in 2024, where audience members will be able to sit down in an elegant new alcove within Central Hall to hear NHS workers’ stories, field recordings of nurses at work and original music.

This will be open for the public as well as hospital staff and patients in 2024.

Moments of Grace is part of 57 new projects that Historic England has funded through its Everyday Heritage Grants: Celebrating Working Class Histories.

The community-led and people-focused projects aim to develop a collective understanding of the past, focusing on overlooked local historic places and celebrating working class histories.

Sean Curran, head of inclusion at Historic England, said: “These projects use community voices and creative methods to tell everyday stories of extraordinary people.

“They highlight the immense contribution to the NHS by those from Commonwealth countries, and the heroic work that nurses undertook during the pandemic.”

 

 

Pictures: Workshops with mental health Picture: Fatimah Zahmoul, Nightingale training school in 1978, sound recording workshops and nurses accommodation in 1978. Pictures: Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospital, Moments of Grace/Fatimah Zamoul/Grace