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Tells the story of the thousands of Caribbean and African women who answered the call 70 years ago to come to the UK to save the then ailing health service. It's a tale of a struggle to overcome racism, their fight for career progression and their battle for national recognition.
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00:02July the 22nd, 2013, and Prince George, like countless royal princes before him,
00:10is presented to the nation by his proud parents.
00:13This timeless scene is part of our national story.
00:17He's a big boy, he's quite heavy.
00:22Standing discreetly behind him is a black woman, their midwife, Jackie Dunkley-Bent.
00:27Jackie, and women like her, have played a part in our story too, and this was their moment.
00:34Thinking about that time in my life around the royal births, the midwives were very proud,
00:43and there were many midwives from BME Extraction who talked about showing their children the television.
00:54In all honesty, I was overwhelmed by the impact that it had had on others.
01:05Jackie and her colleague Erona Ahmed were following in the footsteps of thousands of Caribbean and African women
01:11whose contribution over the years has largely gone unnoticed.
01:17Those days, people, when you put on this uniform, and your hat, and your apron, and your belt,
01:24the people respected you for that.
01:27Oh, I couldn't part with this. This is history.
01:32And yet, they have helped create and sustain the NHS for almost 70 years.
01:39Without those nurses, we would not have the National Health Service we have now.
01:44There's no doubt in my mind that those of us who migrated into England, into the National Health Service, saved
01:52it.
01:53They looked after us even at the expense of caring for their own families.
01:58My children were always complaining that they never saw me.
02:03They never, you know, what is happening, Mum?
02:06Are these women going to stop having babies?
02:09The nation has much to thank them for, but we haven't always shown it.
02:14When I turned up on the doorstep, they didn't want me, herself and her husband.
02:20I don't want a black nurse coming into my house.
02:23I want my whole midwife.
02:26If you complained about me being black, there's nothing I can change about it.
02:29That's who I am, a black woman who happened to be a nurse, caring for you.
02:49I don't know if any of this is familiar.
02:50It shows life at Musgrove in the 40s, 50s, 60s.
02:54So were you here in the 50s?
02:56I was here in the late 50s.
02:58And the Queen Mother came.
03:00And I remember us forming a God of Honour for her.
03:04And you could see that we were wearing our yellow dresses and the white aprons with our caps sewn.
03:12And it is really a special day.
03:1678-year-old Lynette Richards-Lord qualified as a nurse in 1962
03:21at Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset before going on to become a midwife.
03:28We had our training schools and that was on.
03:32And I think the paternity boards were on the other side of the building.
03:37But these were all general boards.
03:39It was very hard work because you had three years of training.
03:44And your first year, your first year was you were like in sluice.
03:50Bedpans. You were the bedpan queen.
03:53You made them shine in you. You cleaned them.
03:56That was your job.
03:57But when you became a second-year nurse and you passed your first exams,
04:03that is when you started doing the interesting jobs.
04:06That's Anita.
04:08Oh.
04:08She's from Guyana, like me.
04:11I remember being in that group there.
04:14She was a good friend.
04:15When I became a second-year nurse, I was supposed to graduate from the bedpans and start doing nice jobs.
04:24There was an English girl who was in my set and she was doing these things, but I was still
04:32with bedpans.
04:33And I mentioned the sister. She said, well, you know, your turn will come.
04:38So I didn't wait for my turn. I went to the matron. I said to her, matron, this is what
04:42is happening to me.
04:43And she said, you leave it with me, Lynette. I will see to it.
04:47But by the time I went back to the ward, things have changed.
04:53Do you have to give me some of your nursing skills that you've imposed over the years?
04:57Oh, I'm sure you can teach me a few things, too.
04:58All right, all right. We'll teach each other that.
05:00Yes, we will teach each other. It's a sort of very typical ward, what it was like.
05:05Yes, Nightingale Ward.
05:06Nightingale Ward, yes. And everything had to be straight, you know.
05:11All the patients, they can't be lying on top of the bed, they have to be in the bed, that
05:15type of thing.
05:16You know, very sort of army style.
05:21Lynette's journey to Nightingale Wards had its roots in a time when the country needed help to repair the damage
05:27of war.
05:29Health Minister, Anirin Bevan, wasn't shy of declaring his ambition for his new National Health Service in 1948.
05:37I'm proud about the National Health Service.
05:40It's a piece of real socialism.
05:43It's a piece of real Christianity, too, you know.
05:46And there is nowhere in any nation in the world,
05:51communist or capitalist, any health service to compare with.
06:02But there just weren't enough doctors, nurses and midwives to run it.
06:07The National Health Service at that time was straining, again, as it is now,
06:12under the weight of what it needed to deliver.
06:15And there were no, not enough nurses.
06:17There were not enough nurses to do the job.
06:21On July 5th, the new National Health Service starts,
06:25providing hospital and specialist services, medicines, drugs and appliances.
06:31Months into its launch, Bevan announced that the popularity of the service
06:35meant it was costing nearly 30% more than he had anticipated.
06:42The cost of prescription charges, dentistry and eye care was crippling the service,
06:47and creating a staffing crisis.
06:51It was only a matter of time before the government would have to look beyond its borders for help.
06:58Within the 12 months of NHS being created,
07:00a report came out which identified there was a shortage.
07:03They needed about another 40,000 nurses and midwives.
07:06So really from 1949 onwards, there was actually a proactive campaign done by the Department of Health
07:15and the Ministry of Labour, where they went out to the Caribbean and other parts of the Commonwealth
07:21to attract, recruit nurses.
07:24We helped the mother country during war.
07:27We were now being called upon by the mother country to help them in another hour of need.
07:33This was not the war.
07:35This was care of the British public at time of illness.
07:48Thousands of young women answered the call over the years,
07:51many with their own reasons for wanting to leave home.
07:56I came here pursuing a nursing career.
08:00All I wanted ever was to be a nurse.
08:05Zena Edmund Charles came to the UK from Jamaica in 1956, age 24, set on fulfilling her childhood dream.
08:14At the age of five, I told them like my teachers, family, friends, everybody,
08:20that I want to be a nurse and I'm going to be a nurse.
08:24At the age of 16, my father, he was a minister, and he felt I was too scornful to do
08:32nursing.
08:32So he discouraged me from nursing.
08:35My mother was a seamstress.
08:38So he said, take your mother's trade or be a teacher.
08:43I wasn't interested in neither.
08:46This is my original uniform.
08:49It's something that is the most precious thing that I have.
08:54It's my pride and joy.
08:58Beverly Chapman arrived in September 1969 as an 18-year-old with a burning sense of national pride.
09:07I remember mainly one of the things that the lady said to me at the embassy.
09:13What do you feel about yourself as somebody that was born in Jamaica going to England?
09:22And I remember saying, I am an ambassador to Jamaica.
09:27I said that I will always put forward the best, the best of Jamaica as I walk around England and
09:37nurse people.
09:47In 1956, 18-year-old Jean Gay came to the UK to escape the cultural constraints of her life in
09:54Barbados.
09:56God rest my mum, but I was motivated to come to England because I was in this very strict home.
10:03You went to church most days of the week and then two or three times on Sundays and so on
10:08and so forth.
10:09And I just, you know, I wanted to go to pictures and I wanted to go to a party and
10:15to a dance and stuff like that.
10:18I had this ambition.
10:19I wanted to swear.
10:21It wasn't allowed in my mum's home.
10:26And so on.
10:27So when I got to England, the first things I was going to do was to swear at somebody.
10:36In some cases, families helped save money and in others, government bombs were purchased by the young would-be nurses
10:43and midwives to secure their passage to the mother country.
10:46I came by boat.
10:49I came by boat.
10:49It was a 21-day voyage.
10:53The ship was called the SS Aurigus.
10:57Others arrived by air.
10:59All were expecting an idolised version of England, influenced by Shakespeare, Bronte and traditional country pursuits.
11:15I remember being on this very nice trail and everything was grey, grey, very, very grey.
11:22It was sort of scary, but it was adventurous at the same time.
11:26We ended up at King's Cross and train stations in Jamaica are in the open air.
11:32And there you can see the sky and you can see fields and you can see cows and the odd
11:36sheep.
11:37This was this cathedral of steam or smoke.
11:42It was like something out of a novel.
11:45I was completely transfixed by the noise and the smell and it was filthy.
11:51I couldn't believe that I was in London.
11:53I thought it was the ugliest, the darkest, the most dismal place I had ever seen.
12:00My father had a brother in England.
12:04When I came to London, I had to get in touch with him.
12:07When I got to his house, they didn't have a bath.
12:12And I thought, no, this is England.
12:16And I realised it was normal and I asked him, I said, where is your bath?
12:19Where do you all bathe?
12:21And he said, oh, well, we don't.
12:24We go once a week to Caledonia Road baths.
12:28And I thought, but this is my father's brother.
12:32He's a West Indian.
12:33How could he live and not bathe?
12:38This is something that's inherent in us.
12:40You bathe twice a day minimum in Trinidad, you know.
12:43And I thought, my God, he's really lived here a long time.
12:49The women had little time to adjust before being sent to their training hospitals around the country.
12:56There they would encounter long hours, low wages and little sleep.
13:03For those who could stand the pace, it was the start of a lifetime working for the NHS.
13:11When we started in the training, we used to go to a classroom and we were taught a theory of
13:18nursing.
13:19And then they had another room where they called it a practical room.
13:22They had dummies and you showed them how to wash patients and so on.
13:26We had things like what they call the pressure areas, show you how to rub the backs and rub the
13:33bottoms.
13:34And you were shown how to do the injections and that type of thing.
13:39And then after three months, you took an exam and you were sent to the wards.
13:45And that's when you were let loose to the patients.
13:47Right?
13:50Poor patients.
13:52By 1955, recruitment was still ongoing despite tens of thousands of black nurses having arrived in the UK.
14:00The majority coming from the Caribbean.
14:04But there was a catch.
14:06It seemed not all NHS recruits were created equal.
14:10State-enrolled nurses sat a two-year course and were seen as practical support staff,
14:16as opposed to the state-registered nurses who trained for three years
14:19and were eligible for promotion to roles such as ward sister.
14:23Many black women, regardless of ability, were funnelled into the junior SEN category
14:29right up until it was abolished in the mid-1980s.
14:35There were also a lot of very negative cultural assumptions going on.
14:40There was an expectation that they would not be able to cope with a higher nursing qualification
14:45of a state-registered nurse compared to the slightly lower one of a state-enrolled nurse.
14:51And a lot of them ended up on the state-enrolled nurse programme,
14:56which was an inferior qualification, didn't have international recognition.
15:00And they didn't realise until it was too late to opt out.
15:07I felt like I was nothing.
15:09I was just a slave, just taken for granted.
15:15I feel low, very low, as if I was inferior.
15:19They make you feel like that.
15:22They didn't make you feel like that.
15:24And the funny thing, I'm a very outspoken person,
15:27but then I swallowed my pride, because I want to achieve.
15:34Life in the mother country was proving to be far more challenging
15:38than they had expected as they strived to build careers.
15:43Many white patients just didn't want to be treated by black nurses.
15:48They never prepared you for how the patients would treat you.
15:51And, you know, they'd slap your hand away and say,
15:54don't touch me, and, you know, your black is going to rub off.
15:57I was looking after this woman, and she said,
16:00don't touch me, don't touch me.
16:02Take your black as a nigger, nigger.
16:04Go back to your country.
16:05Don't touch me.
16:06Don't touch me.
16:17This man called me, you know, black bastard,
16:20and I just screamed at him, and I said,
16:23oh, I am so sick to death of you.
16:25I said, now, tell me something I don't know.
16:28Surprise me.
16:29Tell me something I don't know.
16:30How could people actually look at you without knowing you
16:36and make assumptions about you?
16:39That was so horrible.
16:45You just reached to say you cannot believe that this is the country
16:49that you are told is your mother country.
16:52You can't believe that this degree of ignorance exists.
16:56I knew I couldn't change being black.
16:59And as long as my behavior, my care was impeccable,
17:06you couldn't find anything to complain about my care.
17:11If you complained about me being black,
17:13there's nothing I can change about it.
17:15That's who I am, a black woman who happened to be a nurse,
17:19caring for you.
17:22Outside of the workplace, life was proving just as difficult.
17:27The 1948 Nationality Act had granted all subjects of Crown colonies
17:34a legal right to live and work in the UK.
17:38But there was no law against prejudice.
17:42They're a nuisance at work.
17:43They won't work.
17:45And for folks who got them living by them,
17:48they're a more nuisance still.
17:49So I've got to bring this little boil amongst them.
17:54And they're not clean.
17:57And the smell of the cooking makes you feel sick.
18:00You can get them all out of the country.
18:03And as soon as you can get them out, the better I'll be pleased.
18:06I'll tell you that.
18:08Although thousands from the Caribbean and Africa had been asked for help,
18:13the public and perhaps the government did not expect
18:16or want these economic migrants to stay more than a few years.
18:21When people were first invited,
18:23it was very much on the idea that it'd be temporary.
18:25There wouldn't be that many.
18:27That was how it was sold.
18:28You're talking mid-50s.
18:29When it became, you know, as large numbers,
18:31you're talking 20,000, 30,000 a year,
18:33when it becomes clear that this is going to be people staying,
18:35it's going to be people bringing families,
18:36this is really when Keep Britain White emerges,
18:38when the more overt forms of racism emerge.
18:42Because Britain never wanted us here.
18:44The British people never invited us here.
18:45The British state didn't really want us to stay here.
18:47It was just to fill a void.
18:49On the streets and the pubs and the factories,
18:52the government did not communicate to white people
18:55that, by the way, we are inviting people from the Caribbean
18:59to work in key jobs.
19:02We need this labour.
19:03Please, please welcome them with open arms.
19:07I didn't feel in any way strange
19:10when they started talking about immigrants coming in
19:13and taking their jobs in there.
19:15Because I knew, one, it wasn't true.
19:17I knew that immigrants got the jobs that they didn't want to do.
19:20I've known that all along.
19:22They thought we would come in, run the buses,
19:25work at Lyons, do the nursing,
19:27and all the other things that we did,
19:29and we would go home at night.
19:31And somehow, miraculously, wherever we came from,
19:34we would fly back in the following morning
19:37to continue our shifts.
19:39It wouldn't...
19:39How we lived in the interim was of no concern to them.
19:51Some of the women who did want to return home
19:53with experience and qualifications under their belt
19:56found that they couldn't afford to.
19:59It became apparent after a year or so
20:02that this plan is not going to work.
20:06Firstly, one wasn't saving any money.
20:08There wasn't enough to say if the wages were small.
20:12Other needs were met.
20:13We were fed and sheltered.
20:16But the actual cash you had in your hand
20:18at the end of a month would be nine or ten pounds.
20:21To get back by ear at the time
20:24when I inquired was 500 pounds.
20:28Our parents wouldn't have had that sort of money
20:30having helped us to get to England.
20:33There was no money to bring us back home.
20:38I felt out of sorts.
20:40And I remember calling my mother up
20:42in a reverse charge call to Jamaica.
20:44And this long sob story.
20:47And she says,
20:49You are a Tate, and Tates do not quit.
20:52Furthermore, you are 4,000 miles from Jamaica,
20:55and there are no buses from Harrogate to Jamaica.
20:57Put the phone down.
20:58That was it.
21:00I had to shape up.
21:02There was no excuse.
21:05There was no, you know, I can't because.
21:08That's not how I was raised.
21:10And that's not how she expected me to perform.
21:16As staying in the UK became a reality
21:18for more and more black people,
21:20far-right leaders were quick to exploit
21:22the government's failure to deal with the rising tension.
21:27Well, there are many immediate evils of the coloured invasion,
21:30which are well known to everybody living in this area.
21:33But in our opinion, the most important
21:35is the long-term one of mass interbreeding.
21:38We feel that you cannot have coloured immigration
21:40on the scale in which you're having it today
21:42without sooner or later having mass interbreeding.
21:45That must lead...
21:46Nurses and midwives had to go to work every day
21:49against a backdrop of racial violence in the news.
21:52I mean, 1958 is where you see the flashpoint,
21:55so the Nutting Hill race riots,
21:56which actually, when we remember them,
21:57we kind of remember those as being,
21:59as related to black people.
22:00This was not black people, this was white races
22:02who ran around Nutting Hill causing trouble.
22:04And that's kind of one of the first flashpoints you see.
22:07People were afraid to go out on the streets
22:09and people were legitimately afraid
22:10because you had things like the Teddy Boys roving around,
22:13you had people getting beaten.
22:15You can go through history and pick out periods
22:18where you can find there's lots of violence
22:19which was done to black people.
22:20And black women as well as black men.
22:22People were afraid, and legitimately afraid, to go out.
22:30I had my own fight with Teddy Boys.
22:33I remember leaving work one night
22:37as I was coming out of the hospital.
22:40Stopped in this shop and bought a portion of fish and chips
22:42and there was this group of Teddy Boys,
22:45about, I would say, about 10 of them.
22:48They knocked the fish and chips out of my hand.
22:50I remember being pushed and kicked and so on.
22:56And then the berging swelled up in me.
23:01So I decided to ignore the blows.
23:03I was kicked in places I didn't know I possessed.
23:08And ignored the blows and I just focused on one of them.
23:12And I remember poking my finger in his eye.
23:16And he swore, and they all ran after that.
23:24Even though it was all those years ago,
23:27it's something that is still,
23:29you know, I can still visualize it.
23:32It's quite horrible.
23:50Not all memories are so unhappy.
23:53Many black nurses and midwives were welcomed with open arms.
23:57Beverly and Linda remain friends to this day.
24:02Oh, goodness me.
24:04This is me with my afro.
24:07Oh, I had an afro poem for quite a few years,
24:11around about the time that the boys were born.
24:14And this is Bev and I at our best,
24:17on the dance floor, having a laugh.
24:20I think if Bev and I were up and looking like that dancing,
24:24they'd obviously put one of our songs on for us.
24:26In 1970, Linda was a trainee nurse at St. James' Hospital Leeds.
24:32It's where she would first meet a young girl from Jamaica.
24:37So I'm walking down with my suitcase on my back,
24:40the very first moment,
24:42and there's this girl that came up to me and said,
24:45excuse me, where are you from?
24:49And I said, I'm from Jamaica.
24:50And I'm thinking, what is this?
24:52And she said, well, my name is Linda Rushworth,
24:56and I'm going to be your friend.
24:59And I'm going to look after you.
25:02On the first day of the course,
25:04Bev looked so nervous and not sure where she was or what to do.
25:09And I just sort of saw her and thought,
25:13oh, do you know, I need to speak to this girl.
25:16She's, I need to tell her that I'll be a friend.
25:20I looked at her and I said,
25:22are you going to look after me?
25:24She said, yeah.
25:26And we've just been friends ever since.
25:30As trainee nurses,
25:32their shifts would see them spend little time together on the wards.
25:35But outside of work,
25:36their lives would revolve around each other for the next 40 years.
25:41Linda is like my sister.
25:44Linda knows Montego Bay, Jamaica, like I do.
25:48There are not many people you can say are true friends.
25:52She's supported me for 40-odd years.
26:01Many black nurses and midwives found life easier
26:04when they gravitated toward the big cities.
26:08I didn't see a black patient while I was in Somerset.
26:11Not one.
26:12It wasn't until I actually went to Birmingham.
26:17That is when...
26:19Ha!
26:21You actually see my own people, you know?
26:24It was so different.
26:25The first big surprise when I came here
26:28was that there were so many black people at the Whittington.
26:33It was famous for its Caribbean nurses
26:36and they just seemed to come, you know, all the time.
26:40And so it was really nice.
26:42You felt like home from home.
26:44We have a lot of togetherness.
26:46So as black nurses,
26:47we always try and do things together,
26:50like cook our native food together.
26:53So whoever come...
26:55I was in Kent.
26:56So whoever comes to London and brought something back,
26:59we'd share it.
27:00For me, that comradeship was what it meant to be...
27:05It was nursing.
27:06It wasn't the studying.
27:07It wasn't the books.
27:08It was the comradeship you had.
27:10You know, we learned to enjoy ourselves
27:12in our own environment.
27:17And the more we did that,
27:19the less the external things bothered us.
27:23We started to really have fun.
27:25We started to have some fun,
27:28some real togetherness with our own kind.
27:34Like any young person living away from home,
27:37having fun was just as high on the agenda
27:39as working hard.
27:42Oh my, having a good time?
27:45Having a better time.
27:46It was a good time.
27:48The dancing, the fun, the...
27:53The blue beat.
27:55Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
27:58In those days,
28:00you went from house party to house party.
28:04And you tried to get at least two a month,
28:08if you could.
28:12It was black people's way
28:14of harmonising their lives
28:17and talking and being together,
28:20knowing that work hard, play hard,
28:24and get on with life.
28:29You still have showbine,
28:31and you go on the cell,
28:32and when you come out,
28:33you might go on the 8 o'clock,
28:34when you come out,
28:35it's 5 o'clock in the morning,
28:36or 6 o'clock in the morning,
28:38and you don't...
28:38because you're down there,
28:39you don't realise
28:41it's a daylight.
28:42And as I say,
28:43you rent a spot,
28:45like you stand up in one place,
28:47and it's a rubber for all the wallpaper.
28:49But you enjoy it.
28:50You go out,
28:51you look forward to going out
28:52on a Saturday night
28:53and the cellar party.
28:55That was the best thing, man.
28:59Very often, you would go out.
29:01You'd be...
29:02How can you say?
29:03You might be sidetracked.
29:04You might meet an interesting person
29:06that you didn't want to leave.
29:08And so on.
29:09And very often,
29:10when we got back,
29:12you know,
29:12the doors would be locked.
29:15If we knew we were going to be back late,
29:17then we would leave the windows open,
29:19come back,
29:20and climb through the window
29:21in your bed,
29:22and I never got caught.
29:27It was good fun,
29:29and nurses were always up for fun.
29:32Nurses had a lot of fun,
29:34and then they'd go back on duty
29:36and go serious
29:37and get on with it.
29:41But they didn't say no to a party.
29:43Ever.
29:50That didn't mean they weren't set
29:52on getting ahead, though.
29:54This is a picture of me
29:56as a nurse.
29:57It must be before I qualified,
30:01because I haven't got my blue uniform,
30:04my blue belt on.
30:10This is my belt.
30:12Now,
30:13when you're qualified,
30:15you get a silver buckle.
30:17So somebody like your husband
30:19or your parents
30:20would buy you
30:21a solid silver buckle.
30:23And this is what this is.
30:25Just look how ornate mine is.
30:28Those days,
30:29people,
30:30when you put on this uniform
30:31and your hat
30:33and your apron
30:34and your belt,
30:35the people respected you for that.
30:39Oh,
30:39I couldn't part with this.
30:41This is history.
30:45When I put it on,
30:46I transcended into something.
30:50I was so proud of the scholarship.
30:54I was so proud of my training.
30:56I was so proud of my patients
30:58and how they love me
30:59and the way that I nursed,
31:01that when I finished at St James's,
31:04I had to keep this one uniform.
31:07And so I've kept it all these years.
31:11Beverly was one of the lucky ones,
31:14a state-registered nurse
31:15who went on to qualify as a midwife.
31:19My wish was to deliver a lady
31:22without her having a tear.
31:25So I wanted to do what I was taught
31:30but with a bit more of me
31:33because that's how I nursed.
31:36I nursed with a bit more of me.
31:38I never saw myself as like a black midwife.
31:43I saw myself as a midwife
31:46with a job to do
31:48to look after these ladies
31:50that has had to go through nine months
31:53of a pregnancy
31:55not knowing whether that baby's okay
31:57and everybody said,
31:59I've taken a picture,
32:00it's this,
32:00x-ray.
32:01No,
32:02it's at the back of your brain.
32:04I hope that everything is all right.
32:06Hello,
32:07how are you?
32:08I've just come to examine you.
32:11When did you come in?
32:12It's morning.
32:14For black women battling to get ahead,
32:17midwifery offered independence
32:19and a well-defined career path.
32:21I'll ask if it's sticking out again.
32:24Let me back this.
32:30Professionally,
32:30it made the nurse a clinician
32:31in her own right
32:32and it could lead to senior roles
32:34in the profession.
32:37I just want to listen to the baby's heart.
32:41Many, many black nurses
32:44went on to do midwifery
32:45and they were good at it.
32:49Seriously skilled.
32:51Remains so.
32:52It was a big deal
32:53to get your midwifery under your belt
32:55was a really, really good thing to do
32:57and to be able to deliver babies
33:00or be in the postnatal ward
33:02or antenatal ward
33:03and so on and so forth.
33:05But yes,
33:06it was a stepping stone.
33:07It opened the door
33:08to you becoming a health visitor
33:09and at the time,
33:10you had your own caseload,
33:11you were able to make decisions
33:13about the patients
33:14that you were seeing
33:15and so on.
33:15So it was something
33:16that people aspired to.
33:21You are considered
33:23a practitioner in your own right
33:25so that you could,
33:26as long as you identify
33:28that a woman is normal
33:31and is likely to continue
33:32with a normal pregnancy,
33:34then you can, in effect,
33:36and by law,
33:38look after her entirely by yourself.
33:40I'd like to say
33:42that I had a passion
33:42for women's health.
33:44I wanted to be a woman's advocate,
33:46but it was a natural progression
33:48from nursing to midwifery.
33:49Nobody told me what to do.
33:51I just felt that I would like to...
33:53I considered it to be
33:54a career progression.
33:56It certainly worked
33:57for midwife Lynette.
33:59She went on to become
34:00a director of nursing,
34:02one of the first black women
34:03in the UK to reach that rank.
34:07This is a register of cases.
34:10For any district midwife,
34:12she has to make a record
34:14of all the cases
34:15that she delivered.
34:17We delivered the baby
34:18at 9.15pm.
34:21This baby was 8 pounds,
34:2312 ounces,
34:24and she had a normal delivery,
34:26normal labour,
34:28third stage complete,
34:29blood loss minimal,
34:30and both were satisfactory.
34:32So when we discharged them,
34:35everything was all right.
34:37Sometimes, on average,
34:38you had one delivery
34:40every other day,
34:42sometimes.
34:43And one night,
34:44I was called three times.
34:45As soon as I got in,
34:47another call came.
34:48The operator would say,
34:49there's a case there for you.
34:50And I would say,
34:52am I the only one on duty?
34:53He said, well, you know,
34:55you're the one
34:56who answers first.
34:58So I said, well,
34:59you should check the others,
35:00because, I mean,
35:01I need to have some sleep.
35:05Others simply saw
35:07caring for expectant mothers
35:08and delivering children
35:09as their vocation.
35:12I went into nursing
35:14as a mean of bettering myself.
35:16And when I had the opportunity
35:18of doing a midwife,
35:19and I thought, well, yes,
35:21this is my calling.
35:27When that baby pops up,
35:30I say, yeah!
35:31And you see what you cut,
35:34you feel
35:36even more joy within you
35:38than you did
35:39when you get that pay pocket.
35:43It was an amazing experience
35:45of being a midwife
35:47and the different types of women
35:49you met
35:50and the different types of labors
35:51and what they did
35:52when they were in labor,
35:54sing,
35:55hit their husbands,
35:57squeeze their hands to death
35:58or swear at them
36:00and say, you know,
36:01never again,
36:02you got me into this.
36:04I delivered this baby
36:07and I was traveling
36:09on the bus
36:10like 38 years afterwards
36:14and this lady tapped me
36:17on the shoulder
36:18and says,
36:19excuse me, are you coming?
36:21And I said, yes,
36:22but sorry,
36:23I don't recognize your face.
36:25And she said,
36:27you delivered my son.
36:28And then I said,
36:30you remember me
36:31from then?
36:33And she said,
36:33oh yes,
36:34I'll never forget you.
36:35I am proud to be a midwife.
36:37It's about,
36:37it's one thing I know
36:39that I've done well,
36:41that I know women
36:42have appreciated
36:42what I've done.
36:45This commitment
36:46to the care of mothers
36:47was second to none,
36:48but it came at much
36:50personal cost
36:50to the midwives
36:51and their families.
36:53Working as a midwife,
36:55some things had to be
36:58sacrificed.
36:59If I'm called out
37:00to someone
37:02who is
37:03perhaps not in labor,
37:05but
37:05she's uncomfortable
37:07or
37:08needs advice
37:09or whatever,
37:10I couldn't
37:11turn around
37:12and say,
37:12no,
37:13I'm not going.
37:13I had to be there.
37:15My children
37:17were always
37:18complaining
37:18that they never saw me.
37:20They never,
37:21you know,
37:21what is happening,
37:22mum?
37:23Aren't these women
37:23going to stop
37:24having babies?
37:26You're never here.
37:28But that was only
37:29because
37:30I had to do
37:31what I had to do
37:32at work
37:32and I would stay behind
37:34and I would
37:36make sure
37:36that everything
37:37was okay
37:37with these women.
37:38And I always,
37:39too,
37:40believed that,
37:41you know,
37:41if you did have a family
37:42and you have to
37:43have them on board,
37:44they have to understand
37:46what your job is about.
37:48If you're going to be,
37:50if you really enjoy it
37:51and you really love it,
37:51they have to understand why.
37:53And I remember once
37:54after years of arguing
37:56and upset
37:58with my husband
37:59and the kids,
38:00he came to me one day
38:02and he said,
38:03Ali,
38:03I just had an
38:04aha moment.
38:06And I said,
38:07why?
38:08What about?
38:08What for?
38:09He said,
38:09I just realised
38:11that you're actually
38:12married to the job
38:14and then me.
38:17He said,
38:17I could live with that.
38:19I could live with that.
38:21Yes,
38:21my husband actually
38:22said that to me.
38:28For many black nurses,
38:30practically maintaining
38:31a better life
38:31for their children
38:32meant working long hours
38:34to earn enough money,
38:35but also covering the shifts
38:37that other nurses
38:37didn't want to do.
38:41Any person that migrates,
38:43that comes to
38:43houses and miles,
38:44leaves from their home,
38:45that comes to a different country,
38:46comes for two reasons.
38:48One is for work
38:48and usually for their kids
38:49because they want
38:50a better life
38:50for their kids.
38:51This is why you'll find
38:52immigrants generally
38:53will work very,
38:53very hard,
38:54will generally do jobs
38:55that nobody else
38:55wants to do
38:56because there's very much
38:57and you don't just
38:58go thousands of miles
38:59for no reason.
39:00And so nurses
39:00are no different
39:01in that regard.
39:02And particularly
39:03if you look at the shifts,
39:04the amount of work,
39:05the labour that's
39:06involved in nursing,
39:07these people working
39:07very, very hard
39:08in a major part
39:10to make better lives
39:10to their children.
39:13We did have to do
39:17the night shift,
39:21but some of us
39:22used that to our advantage
39:23because some of us
39:25had children
39:25and childcare
39:27at the time
39:28was non-existent.
39:31So it suited us.
39:37Once the authorities
39:39knew that
39:39how we lived,
39:41how we coped,
39:44there was this sort of
39:46unpleasant
39:51situation
39:54where people
39:55who had children
39:55then,
39:56they were forcing
39:56them to work days.
39:58I had negotiated
39:59a contract
40:00where I worked nights
40:01and then I could
40:02look after my little ones
40:04during the day.
40:05You'd work these things
40:06up for yourself
40:07and then you'd find
40:09the sand shifting
40:10from under your feet.
40:12So it is true
40:14one way or another
40:15we were always
40:15being challenged.
40:21Glasses?
40:22Yeah.
40:23You think we should
40:23get that from the box
40:24one day?
40:25One, two, three.
40:26There's glasses here.
40:30This is going to be
40:31a nice wine,
40:322004.
40:33Oh, is that a good year?
40:34I think it's the right
40:35time to be drinking it
40:37more than it's
40:38a good year.
40:43Jean and her husband
40:44were not unusual
40:45in having to ask
40:45their oldest child
40:46to look after
40:47younger siblings.
40:53Most times,
40:54Joseph would be at home.
40:56Sometimes we were
40:57in a tight place
40:58where we had to cross,
41:00where the shifts crossed
41:02and we had to leave
41:03big child in charge
41:06and fortunately for us
41:07she was very disciplined.
41:11Being the child
41:12of a nurse,
41:13it could be a bit
41:14difficult because
41:14there were times
41:15when I did think
41:16it wasn't fair
41:16that I might have
41:17liked to do
41:19what might be
41:19classed as
41:20a little bit naughty
41:21or a little bit
41:22reckless
41:23or a little bit,
41:24you know,
41:24but I wasn't able
41:26to because
41:28I had accepted
41:30the mantle
41:30of eldest child.
41:32How did you feel
41:34having the responsibility
41:36when both of us
41:37are out?
41:39I don't think
41:40I really resented it
41:42but there were times,
41:43there were times
41:44when I did think
41:46it really wasn't fair.
41:47Yeah.
41:47Yeah.
41:48So you recognised
41:49it as a responsibility?
41:51I did.
41:51I really did.
41:56At work,
41:57black midwives
41:58were unwittingly
41:59paving the way
42:00for their community.
42:01And again.
42:04The intimate nature
42:05of the care
42:05they delivered
42:06took black nurses
42:07into white lives
42:08in an unprecedented way.
42:11even though they
42:12had escaped
42:12some of the hard
42:13slog of nursing
42:14and found a degree
42:15of independence,
42:17they were still
42:17forced to put up
42:18with appalling
42:19prejudice from patients.
42:21One lady,
42:22she wasn't my patient
42:23and the midwife
42:25was off.
42:26When I turned up
42:27on the doorstep,
42:28they didn't want me,
42:30herself and her husband.
42:32I don't want a black nurse
42:33coming into my house.
42:35I want my own
42:37midwife.
42:43I do recall
42:43a woman
42:45came into
42:46the unit
42:46I was working in
42:47and I went to her room
42:49and as I walked
42:50in the room
42:51she said to me,
42:52you're not putting
42:52your black hands on me.
42:54No,
42:54you're dirty black hands on me.
42:56And I said,
42:57let me wash them
42:57and see what difference
42:58it makes.
42:58Let me wash them
43:00and see what difference
43:00it makes.
43:00And she just looked at me
43:01and she said,
43:02oh, dirty black hands on me.
43:03I said,
43:04when you came,
43:04when I came into the room,
43:06did I treat you
43:06with disrespect?
43:07That's all I wish to know.
43:09And she says,
43:11now what you black bitches
43:12are all the same.
43:16It's very, very,
43:17you know,
43:19upsetting
43:20when,
43:21as a human being,
43:22you're trying to help someone
43:23and she
43:25doesn't want you there
43:26because of your colour.
43:31Feeling abandoned
43:32by society
43:33and with little faith
43:34and with little faith
43:35in the system,
43:35some black families
43:37were compelled
43:37to take drastic action
43:39to ensure
43:39their children's well-being.
43:46One young nurse
43:47would make a brave
43:48but not uncommon decision.
43:52I went into the nurse's home
43:54one day after work
43:55and there was this
43:56Beijing girl
43:57sitting at the bottom
43:58of the stairs crying
43:59and I said to her,
44:01what's the matter?
44:03And she said
44:05she had gone,
44:07she'd got off work early.
44:08She'd gone to pick up
44:10her son
44:11from the
44:13childminders
44:13only to find
44:15he was still sitting
44:16in the push chair
44:17that she'd left him
44:19in the morning
44:19and still wearing
44:20the same nappy
44:22that he had been
44:24wearing
44:25when she left it.
44:26And
44:27this thing hurt
44:28and upset her so much
44:30it left
44:31a lasting impression
44:32on me
44:32and I think
44:33it was that reason
44:35that when I had
44:36my daughter
44:36I decided
44:37there's no way
44:38I'm giving her
44:39to anybody here
44:40to look after.
44:41She would be much better off
44:43with my parents
44:44and my family
44:44in Barbados.
44:45It wasn't difficult
44:47for me to send
44:47my daughter back
44:48to Barbados
44:48because I knew
44:49she would be
44:50well looked after.
44:52I knew she would
44:53have friends,
44:55she'd have family
44:55and I knew
44:56that my parents
44:57would care for her
44:58the way that I
45:00probably would not
45:01have been able
45:01to care for her
45:02if she'd stayed with me.
45:05I discussed it
45:06with her dad
45:06and he didn't seem
45:07to think that
45:08there was going
45:09to be a problem.
45:12It affected my
45:13relationship
45:14with my daughter
45:14in a terrible way
45:17because when she did,
45:18when my mum
45:19did bring her
45:19back here
45:20to England
45:21we had no relationship.
45:23She didn't know,
45:24really know
45:25who I was.
45:27When my mum
45:28went back to Barbados
45:29she couldn't understand
45:30why her mother
45:31as she thought
45:32had left her here
45:33with me
45:33this horrible woman.
45:38My husband and I
45:39thought at the time
45:40that because we
45:41wrote to her regularly
45:42we spoke on the phone
45:43we sent photographs
45:44of ourselves
45:44we got photographs
45:45of her
45:47and my parents
45:48explained that her
45:49mother was in England
45:50that it was enough
45:51but it wasn't.
45:52It wasn't enough
45:53and it took her
45:55a long time
45:55to really understand
45:57why I took her
45:59to Barbados.
46:10has he just
46:11woken up?
46:12He looks very sleepy.
46:13No, he hasn't looked good.
46:15Beatrice Norman
46:16is retiring
46:17as head nurse
46:17of children
46:18and young people
46:19at North Middlesex Hospital.
46:21Are you being good?
46:23You are, aren't you?
46:26No.
46:27After coming to England
46:29from Uganda
46:30in 1968
46:31aged six
46:32she would go on
46:33to forge an impressive
46:34career in paediatric nursing
46:36championing the needs
46:37of her young patients
46:38guiding the careers
46:39of her staff
46:40and raising the standards
46:42of the departments
46:43she has worked in.
46:44I love coming here
46:46because this is where
46:48we don't do
46:49anything painful.
46:51It's all nice
46:53play
46:55have fun
46:57so the teenagers
46:58can hide in there
47:01and escape
47:01and the little ones
47:02come in here
47:03and play.
47:04We have two
47:05fantastic play leaders.
47:08However
47:09Beatrice is still rare
47:10in rising to the top
47:11of her profession
47:12as a black woman.
47:14There was a report
47:15that came out
47:15that was Snowy White
47:16Peaks, Roger Klein
47:17in 2014
47:17and it says
47:18that the actual
47:19advancement of
47:20so you've got lots
47:21of black staff
47:21in the NHS
47:22but the advancement
47:23is terrible
47:23I mean it's like
47:241% of chief executives
47:25by 5% of senior managers
47:28if you look at
47:29where people are
47:29still located
47:30in very particular
47:31roles within the NHS
47:32even now
47:3370 years later.
47:35I feel very angry
47:36that 70 years
47:38have gone
47:38and it tells me
47:40that
47:43if there was
47:44some other issues
47:45that had gone on
47:45for 70 years
47:46that would not
47:47be tolerated
47:48I mean
47:48if for example
47:49you had
47:50white nurses
47:52who had stuck
47:53at their position
47:54for all these years
47:56I think MPs
47:58would be shouting
47:59about it
47:59you know
48:00I just think
48:02it wouldn't be
48:03tolerated
48:04it would be
48:05obviously so
48:07unjust
48:13I think we need
48:15to have that belief
48:16that actually
48:17we're just as good
48:18as the person
48:20next to you
48:20you have to shine
48:22you have to really
48:24show that people
48:25don't have a choice
48:25but to give you
48:26that job
48:26you've got to be
48:27very determined
48:29and you have to
48:30try and ignore
48:31those people
48:32that put blocks
48:33in the way
48:34I'm passionate
48:35about caring
48:36for children
48:37I'm passionate
48:38about them
48:38getting the right
48:39care
48:41other black women
48:42have found it
48:43extremely difficult
48:44to advance
48:44to more senior roles
48:46when I started
48:48applying for
48:49assistance post
48:50I was told
48:52I thought I did well
48:54and then when I said
48:56why did I
48:56not get the job
48:58oh you was only
48:59beaten by one point
49:00two points
49:01never more than
49:03one or two points
49:04so therefore
49:05in the end
49:06I stopped applying
49:08I said I've been
49:09passed over
49:10so many times
49:11and I said
49:13I'm not going to
49:14make a fool
49:14of myself anymore
49:18it's a sad
49:19and painful story
49:20common to many
49:21black women
49:23that you know
49:24made me
49:25demotivated
49:27so there was
49:29a time
49:29I just didn't
49:31want to do
49:31any further calls
49:32or anything
49:33because I said
49:35nobody is going
49:36to you know
49:37give me
49:38the great I deserve
49:40so why bother
49:45gradually
49:45it dawned on us
49:46that it's not
49:47because I can't
49:48do a job
49:48that I'm not
49:49getting a promotion
49:51it is because
49:52you don't like me
49:54I went out sick
49:56for a good
49:57three months
49:58because
49:59I was so stressed
50:01going in there
50:03it's like
50:04you're fighting
50:06against people
50:07and you don't want
50:09to be the one
50:10to see
50:10their prejudice
50:11but you know
50:13in the back
50:14of your mind
50:14you know
50:15their prejudice
50:16and they're
50:17working against you
50:20it makes you
50:21so hungry
50:22sometimes
50:23that you don't
50:24feel like
50:24going into work
50:25a lot of nurses
50:28gave up their career
50:30rather than endure it
50:31a lot left the NHS
50:37there is a feeling
50:39about what good
50:40looks like
50:40the lighter your skin
50:42and you know
50:43less melanin you have
50:44in your skin
50:45the better your life
50:46chances will be
50:47generally across the board
50:49and my suspicion
50:51is that
50:51that thinking
50:54was exactly
50:55what was going on
50:56for a lot of people
50:57who were in positions
50:58who could actually
50:58appoint people
50:59good looks like me
51:01so me being
51:02white middle class male
51:03white middle class female
51:04so I feel safe
51:06I feel comfortable
51:07I know how they're
51:08going to perform
51:09I know their background
51:10so I'm going to
51:11choose them
51:14I think the issue
51:15lies within the system
51:17and the system
51:17has been developed
51:19in a way that makes
51:21black and ethnic
51:22minority people
51:23in the system
51:25struggle
51:29the reaction from staff
51:31as Beatrice's
51:32retirement looms
51:33is evidence
51:34of what the NHS
51:35will lose
51:35if it fails to value
51:36its black nurses
51:37and midwives
51:40I'm going to be
51:41very sad
51:41to leave my nurses
51:44a lot of them
51:45have grown up
51:46with me
51:48I'm quite passionate
51:49about them
51:51Magda
51:52are you going to
51:52need something?
51:54yeah
51:54it's been a long
51:55long journey
51:56it's time for someone
51:57else to take over
51:58I'm leaving
51:59people are really
52:00careful
52:01so I've been very lucky
52:04I've been blessed
52:05to work with such a group
52:07of people that
52:08I really truly love
52:10so that doesn't happen
52:12very often
52:13you know how I feel
52:14about you leaving
52:15so
52:16you know
52:17you've been a
52:18yeah I'm very cross
52:19and mad
52:21but you know
52:23it's time for you to go
52:24and we all have to
52:25respect that
52:27you know
52:27there's always a
52:28place for you
52:29if you need anything
52:30just
52:31come back
52:32call
52:33thank you
52:35this is always
52:36going to be my
52:36family
52:41I've worked
52:42really hard
52:42to build up
52:43that service
52:45and it's a
52:46fantastic service
52:47it's very well
52:48known
52:49a lot of the
52:50paediatricians
52:51have come back
52:51as consultants
52:53because of what
52:54the service is
52:55so
52:56I'm very proud
52:58to have been
52:59part of that
53:01The contribution
53:02of black health
53:03workers
53:03men as well as
53:05women
53:05is a story of
53:06achievement
53:06over adversity
53:10Two years after
53:11her first royal birth
53:12and part of a
53:13legacy of black
53:14women
53:14who braved
53:15the hostility
53:16to care for a
53:17nation
53:17Jackie Dunkley-Bent
53:19was once again
53:20the top choice
53:21to lead the team
53:22who would safely
53:23deliver Princess
53:23Charlotte into the
53:24world
53:26I'm a great
53:27believer in
53:28you know
53:29putting your
53:29head down
53:30working hard
53:31being wise
53:32knowing the
53:33system
53:33and knowing
53:35how to place
53:36yourself within
53:36that
53:37I personally
53:38don't think
53:39that my success
53:40is down to
53:41the era
53:42that I was
53:42born
53:43I think
53:44that
53:45you know
53:46that there were
53:47people that were
53:48successful decades
53:49before me
53:49and I think
53:51that there is
53:51something innate
53:52in people
53:53that enables
53:54them to
53:56either not see
53:57the barriers
53:58and the challenges
53:59or even
54:00if they see
54:00them
54:01that they go
54:02right through
54:02them
54:02or go
54:03around them
54:08I think
54:09without us
54:09black people
54:10they would have
54:10fallen
54:11so short
54:13that I don't
54:14think they would
54:14have survived
54:18without those nurses
54:20we would not have
54:21the National Health
54:22Service we have
54:22now
54:24there's no doubt
54:25in my mind
54:26that those of us
54:27who migrated
54:28into England
54:29in the National Health
54:30Service
54:30saved it
54:35in the summer
54:36of 2016
54:37some of those
54:38whose stories
54:39we have heard
54:39gathered for an event
54:41to mark the life
54:42of the earliest known
54:43black woman
54:43to nurse British
54:44patients
54:45a pioneer
54:47whose achievements
54:48have only recently
54:49appeared in school
54:49history books
54:51this statue
54:53will stand
54:53as a living
54:54testament
54:55to the life
54:56work of Mary
54:57Seacole
54:57and as an
54:59ongoing tribute
55:00to the thousands
55:01of health care
55:02workers
55:03from the Caribbean
55:04and from Africa
55:05who underpin
55:07the modern
55:07NHS
55:25born in Kingston
55:26Jamaica
55:26in 1805
55:28Mary Seacole
55:29was the first
55:30black nurse
55:30to come to the aid
55:32of the mother country
55:32as she cared
55:34for wounded
55:34British soldiers
55:35during the Crimean War
55:38I think it's
55:39a very wonderful
55:39day
55:40isn't it
55:41to see one of us
55:43as being recognized
55:44through Mary Seacole
55:45you know
55:45she nearly gave her
55:47life for this
55:48and for us
55:49to now receive
55:50her legacy
55:51I think it's
55:51a wonderful day
55:53it's really good
55:54to be alive
55:54I know we've all
55:56made a contribution
55:57but for her
55:58it must have been
55:59even harder
56:00and we're very proud
56:02Mary Seacole
56:03represents
56:04determination
56:07dignity
56:09persistence
56:10her determination
56:12in some ways
56:13reflects some of what
56:14we as nurses
56:15in the NHS
56:16had to go through
56:17we wanted to help
56:18people whether it was
56:19one person
56:20or a thousand people
56:21and our professionalism
56:24was the platform
56:26on which we did it
56:27we loved nursing
56:28and we saved lives
56:45and the legacy
56:46lives on
56:48Zena
56:49who left Jamaica
56:50to work here
56:50in 1956
56:51is proud
56:53and undaunted
56:54after 50 years
56:55blazing a trail
56:56for black health workers
57:01India and Asia
57:02are my great
57:04grandchildren
57:04I brought them
57:06along with me
57:08so that
57:09they can learn
57:10what it is
57:12to be good
57:12to be kind
57:14to be helpful
57:16Mary Seacole
57:17set an example
57:18for people like me
57:19and bringing them here
57:21is setting an example
57:23for them
57:24as well
57:31I always say
57:33to my colleagues
57:34that you'll be able
57:35to cope
57:36and I try
57:37my utmost
57:38not to get
57:40too depressed
57:41of things
57:42and try to be happy
57:44and cheerful
57:45and show
57:47my colleagues
57:48black colleagues
57:49that we can make it
57:51we are here
57:51for a purpose
57:52we can make it
57:54and we will make it
57:55and we will make it
58:24and we will make it
58:27and we will make it
58:27and we will make it
58:28and we will make it
58:30and we will make it
58:30and we will make it
58:30and we will make it
58:30and we will make it
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