Page 13 - QARANC Vol 17 No 2 2019

The Gazette QARANC Association 11
John Everiss’ D-Day 75 Commemorative Garden with the Royal Hospital Chelsea in the background
that he erected on the beaches to deter the Allied troops.
For the first four days, we assisted John and his team to assemble the garden; this involved unloading the 10,000 plants and taking them out of their pots by hand to be arranged around the plinths. It also involved shoveling 16 tons of grey slate stone into the pattern of the water by filling the metal mesh waves and embedding
D-Day veterans in the Commemorative Garden at The Royal Hospital Chelsea
the washer sculptures into them.
Over the seven days, the veterans required round the clock assistance which, although challenging, was very humbling and an absolute honour. The working day started off early assisting with their morning routines, keeping in mind the stringent timings the veterans still adhere to. We were at their beck and call for fetching drinks, assisting with mobility, assisting with
them viewing some of the gardens at Chelsea Flower Show, nagging them to put sun cream on, sweet talking them into a private tour of the Duchess of Cambridge’s garden, and most importantly a dance partner! Spending time with the most fabulous group of men, women and their families was an absolute privilege. I am worried that no words I type can explain fully what they went through and the emotions we experienced when they told us their stories and reminisced; something you just don’t get from reading it in a book or the Internet. The admiration and respect that we have for each and every one of the veterans, and the memories we created throughout this experience is something we will all treasure forever, and I remain eternally thankful and grateful for what was sacrificed on D-Day.
We Will Remember Them.
Lieutenant Colonel EJ Hulley
‘Casualty’ Visit
February 2019
There are currently seven nurses from the QARANC and QARNNS studying for Emergency Care Specialism at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol. Our clinical placement is facilitated by North Bristol NHS Trust at Southmead Hospital, a Major Trauma Centre to the north of the city centre. During this placement, we have been fortunate to work with civilian colleagues from a variety of backgrounds, and with a wealth of experience in Emergency Care. One of these is Sarah Tosh, an Emergency Nurse Practitioner, who splits her time between working clinically in the Emergency Department, and as Series Medical Advisor on the long-running BBC series ‘Casualty’. Having worked with Tosh, Petty Officer Verity Parke arranged for a group, including Sergeant Powell, Sergeant Robson and myself to spend the day at the BBC’s Roath Dock studios in Cardiff, to gain an insight into their clinical scenarios and the work required to produce a clinically accurate drama.
On arrival, our attention was brought to the BBC site confidentiality notices, instructing that cameras and recording devices were restricted. This limited our photo opportunities, but we did manage to get some Holby-branded shots in, and in true QA fashion, managed to find the on-set pub, the Hope and Anchor!
We were introduced to some of the production team and writers, who were keen to hear about our training, placements, and how we, as serving military staff, fit into the NHS. Tosh then explained further about her role – the balancing of the requirement of the production team to maintain as much clinical accuracy in their scenarios as possible, whilst meeting the dramatic narrative of a long-running drama series, led to some interesting storyboarding and scene planning.
After tea and biscuits, we were given a tour of the set, and met the on-set nurse advisor, who explained how sequences
Emergency Care course members visiting the set of ‘Casualty.’
are put together for filming and demonstrated the use of technology to support their clinical scenarios. We were all surprised to find that the equipment on set are working items, many the same as we use in our Trust.
After pausing to watch filming, we moved on to the prosthetics department, which we were all suitably impressed by. Although green screen is used for some effects, a significant amount of the department’s workload involves handcrafting various body parts and organs on demand, and painstaking work such as applying individual hairs to replica limbs. Tosh demonstrated the alarmingly realistic silicone heart model – arguably a better option than using offal under studio lighting. With some of their secrets revealed, (apparently tea is a key ingredient for replicating pleural aspirate, who knew?) we moved on to the photo opportunity seen above on the outdoor set.
The day was a great chance to highlight our presence as Regular Serving Personnel in NHS Trusts out with the Joint Hospital Groups, and to see the application of clinical scenario planning outside its usual training role.
With thanks to Sarah Tosh and the team at Casualty for their time and professionalism.
Corporal Drewe Mourning