NHS sculpture taking shape
Obsolete and scrap hospital equipment from Telford's Princess Royal has been donated to help built a unique sculpture to mark the 70 th year of the NHS.
Staff at the hospital hunted out broken monitors, surgical tools and other items not longer in use to hand over to the British Ironwork Centre.
It is collaborating with Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust to create the sculpture with will be unveiled at the trust’s annual fun day . Artist Luke Kite will be the man entrusted with building the finished item.
Clive Knowles, chairman of the Ironwork Centre, said a wonderful collection of weird and wonderful items had been found in both hospitals.
"Old pieces of equipment that can no longer be used or repaired include obsolete blood pressure monitors, parts of hospital beds, surgical hands, microscopes, a former anaesthetic machine, a broken
dialysis machine and wheelchairs," he said.
"We now have to decide what to create."
Members of the public are being urged to come up with design ideas for the sculpture.
Anyone with ideas should contact the trust online at www.sath.nhs.uk/nhs70 before February 16. Every suggestion will be discussed by a panel from SaTH and the British Ironwork Centre before a final design is created and unveiled at the fun day.
It will be held on July 5 at the Shropshire Education Centre at the Royal
Shrewsbury Hospital.
Mr Knowles said: “A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and became seriously ill, and although I have now
put that behind me it has given me great empathy with the NHS and with hospitals generally. I was in
hospital for three months – first at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and then at The Christie in
Manchester – and I will always be grateful for the care I got from our National Health Service.”
"Luke is an extremely talented artist from Shropshire. The British Ironwork Centre has several examples of his work on display in their showrooms and they always prove
popular with visitors."
