A research nurse at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) is one of five winners of a nationwide photography competition celebrating the 75th anniversary of the NHS.
Ewa Gasior, Senior Research Nurse, won in the category ‘Our Care’ with a striking black and white photo depicts the many hands that contribute to delivering patient care. The photo, captioned “We’ve got you, You’ve got this,” was chosen for how it managed to capture the NHS core value of care, whether care to patients, volunteers, or to each other as colleagues.
The five winners of the photography competition for NHS staff and volunteers were unveiled earlier this week at the FUJIFILM House of Photography, with other images including long-serving nurse, ‘Mother Obe’, the NHS COVID-19 vaccination effort and an ambulance battling the Beast from the East also among the winning images.
On winning the competition, Ewa said: “It has been an incredible experience to come together to celebrate 75 years of our National Health Service and all those who have contributed to it. To be a part of the NHS means that, at times, we face unprecedented challenges whilst striving to continuously deliver high quality care. During those times, we may struggle to find the right words and the right ways to support our patients through their journeys.”
She added: “The photo is a way to remind us all that, in the midst of so many challenges, what makes a real difference are the connections we build with our patients, how they get translated into our best practice, and the impact they end up having on our patients’ lives.”
The national competition, run by NHS England in partnership with Fujifilm, saw hundreds of the health service’s staff and volunteers from across the country enter photographs that told their unique stories of what the NHS means to them.
The five winners, each of whom represent the broad range of professions across the health service, were picked from a shortlist of 75 photographs across five different categories and their photographs were displayed at the NHS 75th anniversary service at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday 5 July.
Interim Chief Nurse, Helen Christodoulides, said: “Care is the motivator of everything we do as nurses, and I’m really proud that the winning photograph for the Our Care category came from a nurse here in Leeds. Patient-Centred is one of our Leeds Way values, and Ewa’s photo perfectly captures our philosophy of putting the patient at the centre of all we do. Congratulations, Ewa, this is very well deserved!”
All of the 75 shortlisted images will also be displayed in an exhibition titled ‘Our NHS at 75’, held at the FUJIFILM House of Photography in Covent Garden, London, and open to public viewing from 5 July 2023, exactly 75 years to the day that the NHS was established.
Caitlin O’Connell, Clinical Photographer at LTHT, was also shortlisted in the ‘Our People’ category, for her warm capture of a volunteer at the Trust who spends his time volunteering in the Trust’s patient library, often loading up his trolley with books and distributing to patients in hospital.
The competition saw hundreds of eye-catching images submitted, representing the full gambit of life across the NHS, with the winners selected by a six-strong judging panel as those that best represented the incredible care, expertise and ingenuity that is continually evident in the health service up and down the country.
NHS chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, said: “This competition has provided the perfect opportunity for our incredible staff and volunteers to give a snapshot of life in the NHS, 75 years on from its inception – and we were amazed by the hundreds of brilliant, thought-provoking, and inspiring entries from NHS colleagues across the country.
“I want to offer my personal congratulations to the winners and everyone that took part – as we mark 75 years of the health service, your images will provide fantastic insight into life in our remarkable NHS throughout the exhibition and I cannot wait to see them in person.”
Tom Watanabe, Managing Director for Fujifilm UK, said: “As a proud partner to the NHS for many years, we are honoured to collaborate with them on this competition. We know from working with NHS colleagues up and down the country the passion they have for the health service, even in the most challenging of times, so we were delighted to help shine a spotlight on some of these fantastic stories. The exhibition will offer the public a unique opportunity to see what happens behind the scenes in our health service every day and it is a fitting way to mark 75 years of the NHS.”
A celebration event for the winners and all the shortlisted photographers took place at a special launch event of the exhibition at the FUJIFILM House of Photography on Tuesday 4 July.
The judging panel consisted of This Morning’s resident GP Dr Ellie, award-winning journalist Victoria Macdonald, eminent photographer Lewis Khan, NHS England’s Chief Nursing Officer Dame Ruth May, Dr Habib Naqvi MBE and Fujifilm’s Theo Georghiades.
The full shortlist can be viewed on the Fujifilm website.