The winning design was created by schoolgirl Faye Roberts

CHILDREN have put their artistic skills to the test designing eye-catching works of art to highlight infection control procedures at Salisbury District Hospital. Local schoolchildren were challenged to create pictures which would help draw attention to the alcohol gel dispensers at entrances to wards and departments. Ian Robinson, general manager for facilities at the hospital, said: “Although we already have low infection rates, it’s important that we continue to look carefully at what we do and make any improvements that we feel are necessary. Alcohol gels have an essential role to play in protecting our patients and these are available at the entrances to wards and departments. We already had bright yellow backboards for the dispensers in place, but wanted to use children’s skills to create more eye-catching designs that draw attention to the gels and their significance to the healthcare environment.” The winning design was created by Faye Roberts and can now be found across the hospital estate.

 

“Doctors, nurses and therapists have long since recognised the importance of a pleasant environment to help patients recover more quickly”

THE impact of involving patients in hospital arts programmes is being explored at the Oxford Centre for Enablement (OCE) based on the site of the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC). The project, now in its fourth year, sees musicians from the Oxford Philomusica visit the specialist neurological rehabilitation centre to give patients an opportunity to access classical music played to a professional standard. Most attendees are wheelchair users and some have no mobility below the neck, but all are actively involved in the musical sessions that have taken place. The NOC’s arts co-ordinator, Tom Cox, said: “As part of our continuing arts programme we have seen what a major role music has played and how it has been appreciated by the patients. Doctors, nurses and therapists have long since recognised the importance of a pleasant environment to help patients recover more quickly.” The musicians visit the OCE over a period of four weeks and have been funded by a £5,000 Grassroots grant from the Community Foundation. Already this year patients have worked with local artist, Emma Raynard, to design a new window for the centre and plans are in place for other artists, dance groups and a photographic display to take place throughout the year.

 

Youngsters at Cansfield High School worked with Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust to design artwork for the outpatients department

WRIGHTINGTON Hospital outpatients department will soon be brightened up after the trust challenged local schoolchildren to design artwork for the facility. Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust is working with youngsters at Cansfield High School to complete a number of designs for the unit. Trust spokesman, Alison Edis, said: “The students were invited to Wrightington Hospital to learn amore about the work we do here. They listened to a presentation on the hospital, the outpatient department and the patient information centre. They also learned about infection control and how this would affect their projects, so that they knew which materials they were unable to use to protect patient safety.”

 

The images were taken by Jean Fraser during a coastal cycle journey

NHS Isle of Wight is hosting an art exhibition by photographic artist and emphysema patient, Jean Fraser. Drawing Breath Recycled: Maps and Journeys is a group touring exhibition based on a coastal cycle journey carried out by Fraser in the summer of 2007. The exhibition is financed by Breathe Easy Isle of Wight, a joint promotion between Healing Arts and the respiratory department at St Mary’s Hospital on the Isle of Wight. Diagnosed in 2000, Jean left her NHS post as a state-registered art therapist in 2005 due to ill health. Concerned about raising the profile of lung disease, and being aware of the importance of exercise in maintaining health and quality of life, her subsequent cycle journey around the coast between her home town of Whitstable and Hastings involved different groups and individuals with various interests in breathing and health.

Another image from Fraser's travels

The exhibition is on display at St Mary’s Hospital until September and includes photographic work by Jean and new work by two invited artists who had supported Jean on her journey - a sound piece by artist and writer, Rosa Ainley; and mapping and X-ray lightbox artwork by multimedia artist, Sue Ridge. Also included is work carried out by Jean with Year 5 schoolchildren. The exhibition can be viewed for free daily at the Full Circle Restaurant and the Respiratory Outpatients department.

A COMMUNITY mural on the theme of healthy lifestyles is set to brighten up the hoardings around the construction site of a new health centre in Heath Town, near Wolverhampton. The site of the former Duke of York pub in Wednesfield Road has been cleared and wooden hoardings erected to enclose the area and make it safe throughout the design and construction phase of the centre. The mural on the hoardings will be produced by residents from the Heath Town area working with local artists, Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust’s arts co-ordinator, and the neighbourhood manager for the area. Art workshops will be held in the area throughout this month for anyone wishing to contribute. Heath Town Health Centre will be the third state-of-the-art facility developed by Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust under the Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) initiative. Subject to design and planning approval, Wolverhampton and Walsall LIFTCo aim to start construction in autumn 2011.  

The artwork is based on LS Lowry's Outpatients Hall

A FRAMED print of one of Cornwall-based artist Judy Joel’s latest paintings was presented to staff at Derriford Hospital recently. The artwork is a representation of the hospital’s Emergency Department and was based on Manchester artist LS Lowry’s famous 1952 painting of the Outpatients Hall at Ancoats Hospital in Manchester. Joel’s painting echoes Lowry’s matchstick figures and ‘naive’ style, which is characterised by childlike simplicity. Dr. Henry Guly, consultant in emergency medicine at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We are very pleased to receive this artwork, which captures the differences between casualty departments in the 1950s and emergency departments in the 21st Century.”

The new picture will be placed in the Emergency Department at Derriford Hospital

As part of her research, Joel spent a day in the department observing staff and patients. She said: “I saw a great number of things when I was in the department. It was very busy and absolutely fascinating. My father was a doctor and it was a wonderful opportunity to see how medicine has changed between now and Lowry’s time, which was at about the same time my father was practising.” The painting took Joel around 60 hours to complete, spread over several days and months. It is expected that a copy will also be presented to the College of Emergency Medicine at it Annual Conference, which will be held in September.

 

A REFURBISHED patient dayroom at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital has been made more homely following a double donation from family and friends of former patients. Carol Fewings, a long-term patient on the hospital’s Lyme Ward, passed away earlier this year from cancer, and as a special thanks to staff her family donated collections from her funeral to the ward, which specialises in colorectal surgery. The money has been used to purchase two paintings of Topsham Harbour by local artist, Tony Isham. He also donated a third from his collection after a member of his own family was treated on the ward recently. The collection of three maritime pictures will be part of the decoration for the new patient dayroom on the ward. Fewings’ partner, Terry Williams, said: “This is what Carol would have wanted, to give some money to the ward that would benefit the nurses and patients here. It has been a pleasure to be able to do this. Carol was a real character on the ward and all the nurses were so kind to her.” Matron Tracey Inch received the new paintings. She said: “The pictures will brighten up this important space for our patients and their families and I am sure, being local scenes, they will give a lot of pleasure.”