Interviewer
So good morning, first of all, could I ask you your name?

 

Patricia Evans
My name is Trish Evans.

 

Interviewer
And which Friends group are you linked to?

 

Patricia Evans
I am Chair of the Friends of St. Mark’s Hospital.

 

Interviewer
And St. Marks is up sort of in the Harrow corner of London. Isn’t it?

 

Patricia Evans
Well, it’s it’s moved now to Park Royal, Central Middlesex Hospital. So that’s where we’ll be operating in, from next month.

 

Interviewer
OK. And could I ask what age you are?

 

Patricia Evans
I’m 74.

 

Interviewer
Excellent. So what inspired you to get involved with the Friends group?

 

Patricia Evans
Well, I worked for a number of years as a specialist in treating functional bowel disorders at St Marks. And it was a very…treating people with very complex needs and, it was very demanding, but very rewarding. And it was, it was just nice to be part of an institution that is renowned internationally and at the cutting edge. So I retired in 2017. Once I got used to the fact I was retired, I then thought it was payback time, and I’m rather interested in gardening. So, I offered to be a garden volunteer, and before I knew it, I was on the committee, and then everybody stepped back, and I was the Chair. So, that’s how I’ve arrived at the Friends.

Interviewer:
So, so during your working career at the hospital, were you aware of the Friends group too?

 

Patricia Evans:
No, not really. I think this has been a, a kind of long term problem. There were a few jumble sales that happened and, but because we were working and running around, we weren’t totally aware of it. The, probably the, the most significant indicator of the Friends’ existence is that the Tea bar existed there. So then we knew it was the Friend’s Tea bar, but you didn’t actually know what the Friends were, or what they did, It was just their Tea bar. There didn’t seem to be much information around, although there was the leaflet, but it just didn’t seem to catch our attention, I felt.

 

Interviewer:
Absolutely. And equally, during your time as a member of paid staff, did, were you ever aware of anything that was paid for by the Friends, for example?

 

Patricia Evans:
In terms of no, I, well, I was aware. I think there, there was a, a great “to do” because the Friends had bought two wonderful chairs for the Fred Salmon Ward, for the patients day room, and they’d been nicked. So that’s how I became aware of, of that.

 

Interviewer:
And so you, you find yourself almost by happenchance, rather than design, as Chairman of the Friends group?

 

Patricia Evans:
Yes.

Interviewer:
How do you see the future of your Friends group?

Patricia Evans:
It’s a double edged situation, because we have an aging committee. And it’s, they’re basically, they’re getting probably ill ,leaving for reasons that maybe they don’t want to continue anymore. There does and seem to be people, there don’t seem to many people, wanting to come in to replace them. So we managed to get a, like other people who worked at St Marks maybe to, to take their place, but at the same time, it’s very much a dwindling, a dwindling population. And so it, it is a problem at the moment. And the, the move to Central Middlesex actually was instrumental in a lot of people leaving, particularly our volunteers, because they didn’t want to go to Park Royal. It’s a very difficult journey, so they just refused to go. So they’re happily volunteering, still, still in the same place, but for Northwick Park Hospital.

Interviewer:
So you had a double whammy, of the, the pandemic, and a major move. So two huge changes.

Patricia Evans:
Yes.

Interviewer:
Which present you both with challenges, and I suppose, opportunities?

 

Patricia Evans:
Oh, it’s interesting, because one of the committee members said, “oh, she didn’t think she wanted to, she wasn’t going to Central Middlesex”. And we had to go down there to have a meeting on the consultants, because we’re trying to turn a patient’s day room into a multipurpose room for art therapy and it’s for long term patients. And once she got down there and saw it, she was enchanted, “oh, this is wonderful.” There was a great feeling of, of the place. It has a great flow. And so I think there is a challenge, but also as you say, a lot of opportunity to maybe step back, rethink our remit. I don’t think we can work along the, the lines that have been continued down the, the, since 1995 at St Marks, the new St Marks. Yes. I mean, this charity is going to celebrate its 155th birthday in November. I hope.

Interviewer:
Yes. And, St Marks originally was in Central London, is that right?

 

Patricia Evans:
Yes. It was in City Road. Yes. Yes. And then they, they outgrew it, because I suppose as science improved, and it just, they didn’t need more room. So then they moved up to St. Marks in, they moved up to Harrow

 

Interviewer:
It, was really interesting to me because the sort of the journey describes to me about how healthcare has to be relevant to today, to what people need today?

Patricia Evans:
Yes, that’s right. I will use this year to see if it’s viable to get a reasonable amount of volunteers to work on the wards and talk to patients, maybe help with the art therapy, if that’s required various things. Just find new, new avenues to pursue so they can, they can feel, feel that they’re doing something useful. And as you say “relevant”, so it’s just really working out how to achieve that.

 

Interviewer:
I think one of the bonuses we see with other groups is our, that the London location means, that you can create, there are marvelous organisations to create links with. So for example, I know of a couple of organisations that have really strong links with universities, and have really strong links with everything from placements, all all the way through to regular volunteers. And I think there is an opportunity for all Friends groups, realistically, to to think about whether they are the right place to engage with those sorts of organisations.

 

Patricia Evans:
Yes. So that’s quite relevant because we did have a connection with the North Westminster University, which campus is right next door to Northwick Park Hospital. And so at our AGM, we used to have an art exhibition of the students work, and that would take place in the corridor that links St Marks with Northwick Park Hospital. But the difficulty is, I don’t know what institutions there are in Park Royal because there there’s a difference between being able to hop across to, to Northwick Park. It’s again, it’s the distance, the travel and the willingness to go there. So maybe the next thing to do as is to discover whether there are institutions around there that we could be linked to mainly it’s there, it’s an industrial estate, and an opposite an Asda supermarket. So I don’t know whether we might forge a link with them, but I, I don’t know. I mean, it’s, it’s something to consider.

 

Interviewer:
Well, absolutely. And, and from my perspective, I know some Friends groups do have great relationships with individual supermarkets, and they have involved employee volunteering programs where people can actually come, and get involved with the Friends group. So that could be something. So there, there’s a year of discovery for you

 

Patricia Evans:
Well, I think so.

 

Interviewer:
So you’ve obviously decided this is going be your ‘giving back’ moment. Yes. And you’ve got this opportunity. So what, why do you think it’s important to get involved with Friends groups?

Patricia Evans:

Patients’ need support, and if you take all the various institutions within our hospital, they all seem to be directed towards research. At the end of the day, patients need, need help. They, if you have people with chronic long-term conditions, they’re likely to be either, well not employed or, or having monetary problems because of, of their condition, the various state benefits, et cetera, don’t normally cover everything. Or maybe because they’re just earning or, or just above the threshold, they don’t qualify. So, so it’s a question of helping them, more often than not, to come to Outpatients. So, we pick up the travel. If they’re having rather a complex operation, they need their family with them. And so, we tend to pick up the tab for a hotel stay. So, the patient can be accompanied by their family. People who are completely below the bread line are catered for, but it’s the ones who are just above it, they experienced the most difficulty, as far as I can see.

 

Interviewer:
And I suppose a key challenge for you is actually finding out who those people are?

 

Patricia Evans:
That’s it. And we rely on the staff for that. They had a conference not so long ago. It was called “The Frontier”. So, they’re introducing their new research to the world, whatever. And so, I made a point of going to it and I kept giving everyone a, a bright red paper clip, big one. They don’t forget we are here. And that’s just to remind you to, to send us your requests. And because otherwise you’re sitting on money and it seems a shame that you’re sitting on money, which could be better put to good use fellow who had had most of his ins out because he had bowel cancer and he had, he couldn’t even pay his electricity bill. So, so we gave him the maximum route we could. And that seemed to anything, I mean, it just paid for his electricity bill. At least he felt someone was there caring about his condition, I think. Yes.

 

Interviewer:
And, and also, it’s just having someone to talk to. I imagine someone who, who seems to understand the challenges for them?

 

Patricia Evans:
Yes, yes, yes.

 

Interviewer:
Fantastic. Now, when you knew that I was going to be talking to you today, was there anything else that you would keen to tell me that you haven’t had the chance to say yet?

 

Patricia Evans:
Well, I, I was, I was thinking about that if we can’t get to the ward to, to talk to patients directly at the moment because of the, obviously the risk of, of the COVID that we have to rethink our remit, and maybe we need to, to make patients’ lives better from the point of view of providing them with technology, various things. So, the Roundwood in central Middlesex is what we call the Intestinal rehabilitation unit. And you have long stay patients, long term, you know, eight months they could be there for. So, we wanted to provide, at least this is Matron Gondo, this is, wonderful woman. And she said, “well, we need movie nights, and we need you know, different things like that”. And so, they have this rather drab room with a tiny little television practically close to the ceiling. And so, you, there’s no way you can have a movie night, or any kind of sports night, or whatever. So, we thought, well, we’d, we’d buy by them a decent size, like 55 inch and also six televisions for their patients’ individual rooms. So, they can pursue their university course on it, or whatever. So, so we’ve directed it towards things at the moment, which ultimately will support them as opposed to actually being a physical presence on the ward.

 

Interviewer:
Brilliant. That’s great. Well, it’s been lovely to hear your story. Thank you.