Lifetimes

Abstract

Our research at Lakeside takes us round and round the spatial grids of the hospital rather like hamsters on a wheel. Yet as we walk to and fro, from the surgical wards to A and E, or from the canteen to the Postgraduate Medical Centre, we encounter the full diversity of staff employed here. Shy faced junior nurses giggle together as they walk past in huddles, whilst older Sisters march past confidently in their blue dresses, with an altogether more efficient sense of purpose. Junior doctors sweep by, their white coats flapping and their stethoscopes swaying, whilst besuited, bespectacled Consultants pass with seemingly less urgency. Sitting in the Doctors’ Mess, we watch the doctors circling with their trays, deciding which of the diverse groups to join. Here we can see the broadness of cultural and ethnic backgrounds and experiences in the hospital.