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‘A wonderful anthology to celebrate the NHS’ – Stephen Fry
When the NHS was founded in 1948, it was born out of the conviction that good healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth. It now relies on the hands and hearts of more than 1.5 million staff. It is rare that we hear their voices.
This anthology offers a unique insight into the experience of the people at the heart of the NHS – from the student nurse at the start of his career to the heart surgeon on the eve of her retirement. We hear the stories of those whose vital work is often unseen and unsung – the cleaning staff, librarians, administration staff, psychologists, occupational and speech and language therapists, sign language interpreters and clinical scientists.
We have also had generous donations of poems for this by leading UK authors and poets including Michael Rosen, Roger McGough, LemnSissay, Sabrina Mahfouz, Kate Clanchy, Sam Gu
These poems offer unflinchingly honest and intimate accounts from the people who care for us from the moment of birth to the end of life. In crystallising the most beautiful and painful moments of being human, they speak directly to all our experience and in doing so, make us feel more connected and less alone. Above all this book is about our shared humanity and the compassion and care that lie at the heart of the NHS and in all our lives. They remind us of what Wordsworth called ‘the best portion of a good man’s life: his little, unremembered acts of kindness and love’.
At the same time, they serve as a stark reminder of the human cost of trying to offer compassionate care in a system that is underfunded and understaffed and the importance of showing the same compassion and support to the staff we depend on to hold the NHS together. All proceeds from this book will go to NHS Charities Together which supports over 140 official NHS Charities raising money for NHS hospitals, ambulance services, community and mental health services across the UK.
Words of praise!
“A wonderful anthology to celebrate the NHS, which is itself the best poem a country has ever written”
Stephen Fry
“Here is the big, beautiful, beating heart of the NHS as you’ve never seen it before. Tender, sinewy, passionate, intimate. What a book – what a celebration of all that unites us. Truly wonderful”
Rachel Clarke
“Deeply moving poetry from the people who work to keep us whole and healthy and happy and who care for us when we’re broken”
Mark Haddon
“This is a beautiful book: heartfelt and intimate”
Adam Kay
“The very heart of who we are and what we are here for. An exciting and wonderful book”
Michael Rosen
“Like the NHS itself, this poetry collection is full of humanity, compassion and meaning”
Christie Watson
“A wonderful collection. It is utterly humbling to experience our world of healthcare through the eyes and ears of poet-practitioners. Some team members are exhausted and others exhilarated; some reflect at the very edges of life, both its beginning and its end; some are wide-eyed with hope and others hold us in the broad sweep of their wisdom; new and hesitant; experienced and confident; weary and cynical; all joining hands to create a bridge of caring. I particularly relish the inclusion of poems from clerical, housekeep- ing, portering and other oft-unsung colleagues who keep the show on the road every day and night. Every NHS team should discover who their poets are (there will always be one!); I’d recommend every health-care team to relish this book together. It’s a five-senses celebration of our workforce, our ideals and our sense of pride in being people who provide a health service for the very people we come from. Of us, by us and for us: our NHS”
Kathryn Mannix
“Every ward and waiting room should have a copy”
Simon Armitage
“The NHS and Poetry. Healing for body and heart. What could be more important!”
Gillian Clarke
Words of praise!
“A wonderful anthology to celebrate the NHS, which is itself the best poem a country has ever written”
Stephen Fry
“Here is the big, beautiful, beating heart of the NHS as you’ve never seen it before. Tender, sinewy, passionate, intimate. What a book – what a celebration of all that unites us. Truly wonderful”
Rachel Clarke
“Deeply moving poetry from the people who work to keep us whole and healthy and happy and who care for us when we’re broken”
Mark Haddon
“This is a beautiful book: heartfelt and intimate”
Adam Kay
“The very heart of who we are and what we are here for. An exciting and wonderful book”
Michael Rosen
“Like the NHS itself, this poetry collection is full of humanity, compassion and meaning”
Christie Watson
“A wonderful collection. It is utterly humbling to experience our world of healthcare through the eyes and ears of poet-practitioners. Some team members are exhausted and others exhilarated; some reflect at the very edges of life, both its beginning and its end; some are wide-eyed with hope and others hold us in the broad sweep of their wisdom; new and hesitant; experienced and confident; weary and cynical; all joining hands to create a bridge of caring. I particularly relish the inclusion of poems from clerical, housekeep- ing, portering and other oft-unsung colleagues who keep the show on the road every day and night. Every NHS team should discover who their poets are (there will always be one!); I’d recommend every health-care team to relish this book together. It’s a five-senses celebration of our workforce, our ideals and our sense of pride in being people who provide a health service for the very people we come from. Of us, by us and for us: our NHS”
Kathryn Mannix
“Every ward and waiting room should have a copy”
Simon Armitage
“The NHS and Poetry. Healing for body and heart. What could be more important!”
Gillian Clarke
Editors
Editors
Dr Katie Amiel
Katie is a GP in Hackney and specialises in healthcare professional wellbeing. She is a Certified Coach, Member of the Association for Coaching and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy trainer. With the support of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, she developed a unique course for training healthcare staff and has run events, courses and workshops on wellbeing, compassion, mindfulness and creativity for organisations including the NHS Practitioner Health Programme; Royal College of GPs; NHS Coaching and Mentoring Scheme and Health Education England.
She founded The Bigger Picture Collaboration in 2018, working with organisations including NHS Charities Together, Doctors in Distress, RCGP, Kings University, The Royal Literary Fund and the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to improve healthcare professional wellbeing by offering a wider perspective and focus on creativity, the arts and humanities. As a result of her work, she was nominated for a RCGP Inspire Award for Outstanding Contribution and awarded the Worshipful Society of Curriers Millenium bursary. She edited ‘These Are The Hands: Poems from the Heart of the NHS’ a charity anthology for NHS Charities with Deborah Alma (The Poetry Pharmacy) and Michael Rosen. Her writing also features in the bestseller ‘Many Different Kinds of Love’ by Michael Rosen.
Deborah Alma
Deborah is a UK poet and taught Creative Writing at Worcester and then Keele Universities, where she was Honorary Research Fellow. She has worked using poetry with people with dementia, in hospice care, with vulnerable women’s groups and with children in schools. She is editor of Emergency Poet- An Anti-Stress Poetry Anthology; The Everyday Poet- Poems to Live By; #Me Too – Rallying Against Sexual Harassment- A Women’s Poetry Anthology, Ten Poems of Happiness and The National Trust Book of Nature Poems. Her first, full collection, Dirty Laundry is published by Nine Arches Press.
She ran a project called the Emergency Poet offering poetry on prescription from her vintage 1970’s ambulance and subsequently co-founded the world’s first walk-in Poetry Pharmacy in Shropshire with her partner, the poet James Sheard, in 2017. In 2024, they opened a branch of the Poetry Pharmacy in LUSH on Oxford Street, London.
Reviews
NHS poetry anthology to be published on World Poetry Day
The Bookseller
These are the Hands – Poems from the Heart of the NHS
The Nursing Times
Poem of the month: The drive home by Craig Coyle
The Guardian
‘Everyone is pulling together’: poems by NHS workers to raise money for Covid-19 appeal
The Guardian
Poems for the NHS: ‘the best poem a country has ever written’
The Psychologist
These are the Hands: ed. by Deborah Alma and Dr Katie Amiel, Fair Acre Press
Write Outloud
These are the Hands: Poems from the Heart of the NHS
Corpus – New Zealand
These are the hands poems from the heart of the NHS
British Journal of General Practice
Reviews
NHS poetry anthology to be published on World Poetry Day
The Bookseller
These are the Hands – Poems from the Heart of the NHS
The Nursing Times
Poem of the month: The drive home by Craig Coyle
The Guardian
‘Everyone is pulling together’: poems by NHS workers to raise money for Covid-19 appeal
The Guardian
Poems for the NHS: ‘the best poem a country has ever written’
The Psychologist
These are the Hands: ed. by Deborah Alma and Dr Katie Amiel, Fair Acre Press
Write Outloud
These are the Hands: Poems from the Heart of the NHS
Corpus – New Zealand
These are the hands poems from the heart of the NHS
British Journal of General Practice