Robert and the hypnotised hen

The racism and Islamophobia we have seen played out in many towns and cities this past fortnight has been shocking, awful, and difficult to witness.  I can’t imagine how much more pain and hurt these troubles would have caused the folk in Southport – all of whom will have been trying to come to terms with an almost unbearable sense of loss. In this past week I have sent out two communications to all the colleagues I work with. These have been joint messages from myself and our Chief Executive. In these messages we have both said that we don’t understand the motivation of those involved in the mindless violence, racism, and destruction. However, we both understood the fear, anxiety, and feelings of vulnerability such behaviour generates for anyone innocently caught up in the disturbance. Likewise, to others not directly impacted but who now feel threatened. To be honest, I was glad to see the swift justice being meted out through the courts, and likewise the peaceful coming together of anti-racism demonstrations across many communities.

Great Britain has long welcomed people from all over the world to come and live and work here. Following the end of the Second World War it is doubtful that as a nation we would have got ourselves back on our feet had it not been for the arrival of many individuals from overseas. At the time, I don’t think the newly formed NHS would have been able to thrive without the benefit of so many overseas people joining the workforce. And of course this is still the case today as well. Many of these folk came from countries that made up the British Empire. I’m indebted to my colleague and friend Professor Calvin Moorley, who last week shared a picture on social media that for me, at least, both encapsulates our nation’s somewhat imperialist past, the welcome we extended to others and the futility and falsehoods of the claims made by those involved in the riots and disturbances.

Calvin is both a world renowned academic and nurse. I became a nurse and an academic a long time before Calvin. Indeed, I started my nurse training way back in 1975. At that time student nurses didn’t go to university. I went to a School of Nursing on the site of a large Victorian Psychiatric Hospital in Swansea, Wales. It wasn’t a large cohort as is often the case these days, but a small group of about 10 of us. We spent time on the wards and out in the community, interspersed with study weeks in the school. Although in comparison to nurse education today, our training was rather old fashioned and very bespoke. I’m sure there must have some kind of curriculum, and I can recall having to work my way through a little red book that recorded our competencies as we mastered them. That said, we did have some very quirky lectures at times.

I can remember a session that was devoted to the therapeutic use of hypnosis. During this session we were told that it was possible to hypnotise a hen. At the time I had a little small holding, and the very next day I brought one of my hens in. It was amazingly easy to hypnotise the chicken. Simply holding the hens head to the ground and drawing a line away from its beak, the chicken will enter in a state of ‘tonic immobility’ and can stay like that for around 30 minutes. Hamilton Gibson in his book published in 1997, Hypnosis- Its Nature and Therapeutic Uses notes that the world record for a chicken remaining hypnotised is 3 hours, 47 minutes. I have not tried to beat this with any of our hens.

At the end of the day one of my student nurse colleagues, a chap called Robert, asked if he could keep the chicken. I had plenty, and although I was intrigued as to what he might do with it given he lived in the nurses’ home, I handed it over. I strongly suspect the hen provided a couple of good meals for him as I never saw the it again. At the time Robert was a young man who had come all the way from Accra, the largest city in Ghana to train as a mental health nurse. He was one of the warmest, gentlest and generous person I have ever met. Now I have been fortunate to be able to travel all over the world, yet I could not imagine the courage it would take aged just 18, to pack your bags and start a new life in a completely unknown country. He did this, as have so many other people like him. We both completed our training, and sadly we all went our separate ways. I have lost touch with where he is now what he did with his nursing career.

People like Robert are what makes the NHS the largest multicultural organisation in the world. We should be proud of this example of how diversity can make for a better whole. Like many NHS organisations, my Trust has a culturally diverse range of colleagues. We are richer as an organisation because of this.  In these troubled times, we need to stand tall, stand beside each other and loudly reject the notion somehow our lives are made worse by welcoming folk from other countries. We are truly stronger together. I for one, am proud to work in an organisation that reflects the multicultural communities we seek to serve.  

It remains important that we remember those families in Southport whose loss and pain must be almost unbearable. Likewise, we must also remember that it is not just these riots that should concern us, but the racism and Islamophobia, and intolerance of all kinds that occurs every day. As an organisation we have pledged to be an anti-racist and more inclusive NHS Trust. We still have a way to go on this journey. The past 10 days have shown just how important is it to continue to work for a more equitable world, and a world that values and welcomes diversity. We should all recognise the importance of ensuring that in our hospitals, community services, our teams, the communities and neighbourhoods we live in and with every one of those folk we meet each day, it is kindness, compassion, civility and love that prevails.