My final outcome is a combination of, a publication, a document, a sign and a film based on the style of NHS ephemera. I am communicating the ways in which the NHS has been run down, the experiences of patients and doctors and the importance of care, to the people of Britain, from the people of Britain. I believe that the NHS is an extremely valuable institution. However, due to employees being overworked and underpaid, problems being filled with temporary solutions and cuts on the rise, the service it provides lacks dignity and care.
I thought it was important that my outcomes took multiple forms with different processes taking place to communicate that the problems occurring within the system are complex and are without a simple solution. Through embedding information into the ephemera, I wanted to reveal narratives that are often overlooked. My outcomes live within a fabricated hospital environment, sitting on a hospital waiting room chair surface beside a hospital sign in order to immerse the viewer and allow them to connect with the narratives and discussions.
It is important for me to share this information because the NHS is a core part of British identity and has provided health care and support to British people for the past 75 years. However, it no longer functions as it should. Doctors and nurses are worked to the bone and people receive an undignified service due to waiting times and cuts to funding. Now, is the time to care for this institution, like it has cared for us.
The NHS is presented by the media as a source of national pride or, national tragedy. A battle between two extremes, neither exposing the whole truth. It is all about the spaces in between. The people who have stories to tell, the people who care for others and the ones who are overlooked and forgotten about. Those are the people that the NHS was set up for.