Karen Dawn Hutchinson
My fob watch was given to me by my Mum on my nineteenth birthday, The day after I had started my training. The watch is inscribed with my name and the date. It also has my initials. K.D.H.
The watch has followed me throughout the forty years of being a nurse, although it has not been worn for many years, it has been reminder of my mum and of my first birthday without my Dad…
The picture is of me when I qualified as a Registered Mental Nurse in 1986. You can see I am wearing my fob watch and my ‘frilly’ hat, indicating I was a staff nurse.
My Journey in the NHS
My Mum and Dad were both NHS employees
It was their love that propelled me,
steered me,
To make the right choice of career.
No holds barred of how hard it would be.
There would be less and less people like me
as I climbed the career tree.
The roles that were mine,
I strived twice as hard to gain.
Loving my work despite the pain
of jobs taken away.
The ceiling glass,
My race denied me access.
I made a plan to make it differently.
I would read,
I would study, I achieved an MSc.
I still work hard for change to come.
My work is… I know not yet done.
Change will come some day, somehow. I am impatient I want it now!!
The dreams of the Windrush Generation will be fulfilled…
the slog is still hard and uphill.
The NHS is OURS… not theirs, despite the challenges…
despite the fears.
Illustration: Amber Carter