A PETITION aimed at naming a temporary field hospital which will treat coronavirus victims in Birmingham after British-Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole has reached nearly 5,000 signatures only a few days after being launched.
NHS head Sir Simon Stevens confirmed that Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC) will soon be transformed into a site to treat coronavirus patients.
The NEC is the latest proposal for a temporary field hospital after plans were unveiled to transform London’s ExCeL centre into the Nightingale hospital, equipped with 4,000 beds to cope with a rise in coronavirus cases in the capital.
Activist and campaigner Patrick Vernon who launched the petition said that a decision to name the temporary Birmingham hospital after Seacole, who famously nursed wounded soldiers during the Crimean War, would act as a “beacon of hope and diversity for the country”.
Vernon said: “With the Excel conference centre at the Docklands being named NHS Nightingale after Florence Nightingale, it is important that the second emergency hospital tackling Covid-19 at the NEC in Birmingham should be called the NHS Seacole.
“Mary Seacole is a Jamaican British war hero who supported British troops as a nurse during the Crimean war.
“Despite being rejected by Florence Nightingale to join her band of nurses, she travelled to the front line of the war in Crimea. She was so widely loved for her healing powers, the soldiers nicknamed her ‘Mother Seacole’.”
He contiuned: “Mary inspired thousands of women and people of colour to dedicate their lives to the NHS.
“Recently the Royal College of Nursing recognised her contribution to British nursing, publicly declaring her on the same footing as Florence Nightingale.
“I am an activist and campaigner who has been fighting for years to get black Britons recognised for their contribution to history. In 2003 I launched an initiative called 100 Great Black Britons, where the public voted Mary Seacole as the greatest black Briton of all time for the heroic way she served the country during war.”
Speaking about why it was important to get the community behind the petition Vernon said: “The lack of ethnic minority representation needs to change, especially in the NHS, especially at senior level and in the national narrative of the country.”
“Naming Mary Seacole as part of the fight against Covid-19 would be a major step forward highlighting the contribution of BAME staff who have worked tirelessly for the NHS since its creation in 1948 and highlight the collective spirit of the country to fight the pandemic and reduce the impact of infection.”
“Please sign this petition so Matt Hancock the Secretary State for Health can name the NEC building as the Seacole NHS as a beacon of hope and diversity for the country.”
If you would like to support the petition, please click here.
Comments Form
8 Comments
name it after her
High time this hugely admirable woman was properly recognised in and by this country. Shame it didn’t happen in her lifetime and has had to wait so long!
“I trust that England will not forget one the nurse her sick, who sort out her wounded to aid and succour them, and who performed the last offices for some of her illustrious dead”
Mary Seacole 1805-1881
1857 Sir William Russell The Times newspaper Crimean war
We SAY REMEMBER & HONOUR Ms Mary Seacole.. It’s Time….it’s NOW.
There are more temp medical centres being organised. We should push to have the NEC one named after Mary (Seacole) and maybe the one at the GMEX after Edith (Cavell).
Just a suggestion.
This woman made history but was almost forgotten.. embrace her courageous work and determination.
She absolutely deserves the hospital to be in her name and her name only !!
As a nurse of 42 years I believe all of the pioneers of nursing should be honoured and remembered for the part they played in our profession
Another slap to the faces of foreign professionals.I need a poultice applied to my face from Nurse Seacole now.I cannot clap so sorry until the NHS truely becomes inclusive.Sickness and death makes us all equal.
Please name it after this great woman!