Experience and resilience to the fore in drama about profession

Abstract

Nurses who travelled the world working in the former British colonies gathered in London last week for a reading of a play inspired by their collective experiences. Passages from Empire, which is set to be broadcast by BBC Radio 4 next year, follows the lives of two nurses who train in Britain together after the first world war and then embark on different paths. One sets sail for Mauritius, the other for Newfoundland. Playwright Vanessa Rosenthal was commissioned by King’s College London to write the play. For inspiration she drew on the letters and diaries of nurses recruited by the Queen Elizabeth’s Overseas Nursing Service (QEONS), formerly known as the Colonial Nursing Association. King’s College London chair of nursing policy Anne Marie Rafferty led on the project alongside Jessica Howell, a Wellcome Trust research fellow. A trust has reworked a Christmas classic for a music video urging front line staff to have the flu jab. More than 10,000 YouTube viewers have tuned into the Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust campaign video I Don’t Want a Christmas with Flu, which is a cover of Mariah Carey’s festive hit All I Want for Christmas is You. The video features nurses and other staff dancing around wards in Santa hats. Nurse Margo Linton, occupational health and wellbeing manager at the trust, said: ‘We wanted to do something that was fun and appealing, but also carried an important message about flu prevention.’ To watch the video go to tiny.cc/Barnet_flu_vid Staff make a song and dance over having flu jabs