"In the still centre". ENT Outpatient Clinic, Torbay hospital

This  is one of series of co-created drawings that has been developed through continuing discussions and shadowing of staff at Torbay hospital to explore experiences of burn out and response to the word ‘wellbeing’.  Staff are encouraged to talk about and visualise meaning and metaphor in their work and environment. The narrative here is driven by an ENT consultant. This work was produced as part of a residency with Torbay and South Devon Healthcare Trust 2022 -2025, funded by NHS Charities Together and will be part of a permanent exhibition in the historic boardroom at Torbay Hospital.

Surgeon 
“This is my safe space in the midst of the pressures of clinic, it’s relaxing, satisfying and therapeutic for me, it gives me space to think about how I’m going to manage the patient, it gives me space full stop. In the context of the whirlpool for the patient and the sometimes hectic nature of clinic, I am in the still centre, at the eye of the storm… the waves are very evocative of tinnitus. For some of my patients, this picture evokes their experience of microsuction of the ear. They may undergo severe spinning vertigo during the procedure, which can be disabling and upsetting. I see that the nurse and I are affected by their distress, compassionately entering the world of the patient, seeing the encounter through their eyes. But the harnesses and ceiling stays show how we need to also maintain our professional stability and poise; completing the important treatments for the benefit of the patient despite the sometimes unpleasant short-term effects; being empathic without losing our footing in the vortex of their symptoms: ‘as if one were the person, but without ever losing the “as if”.’ (Carl Rogers, A Way of Being) ”