Happy Birthday NHS!
Ahead of the NHS’s 70 birthday, Wishing Well programma manager Jo White talks about how important the NHS is to Rhythmix.
In our world of Music in Healthcare, partnerships are everything. Our partnership with those working in the NHS is one that has opened doors and helped to enrich both of our sectors.
As Musicians in Healthcare we get an endless stream of learning from nurses, occupational therapists, play teams and doctors about how best to ‘offer’ music-making to people in healthcare settings; what need a particular person has and how we can meet that need through the sense of connection, self expression and engagement that music making creates. Without this collaboration and the mutual trust that it brings, we run the risk of being stuck in the periphery of healthcare; seen at best as entertainment or a ‘nice’ activity. Instead, our partnerships have helped us to find our place in the multi professional team that supports the wellbeing of the hospital community.
We are not there, at patients bedsides, for the hours after our visits so it’s the staff on the hospital ward who help contextualise our work. They can tell us, for example the person living with dementia and subsequent anxiety, seemed calmer for the rest of the afternoon, able to rest, able to eat. That a nurse was heard humming the song that he loved the following day to help keep him calm.
There’s endless inspiration to be had on our hospital wards - compassion, innovation and creativity. Nurse David Phillips at The Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital was recently named employee of the year by BSUH NHS Trust. He turned some scary ventilator equipment into a Batman mask and through his creativity helped a child feel safe. When we are making music with his patients, they light up when he comes into the room and takes time to encourage, to praise, to join in.
We’re grateful every day for our NHS partnerships - for the nurses who claim they can’t sing but do it anyway because it will mean something to their patient - but today is a particularly good day to celebrate. Happy day to all of you. Happy Birthday, NHS.