Wigan hospital trust staff shortlisted for national photography competition

Mike Fulford and Petro Bekker, who work at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL), entered the competition, run by NHS England in partnership with Fujifilm UK, along with hundreds of staff and volunteers from across the country to share their unique stories of what the health service means to them.

They are two of only four shortlisted in the North West.

Now, the pair have been chosen to represent the health service in the Our Care category as part of the 75 shortlisted photographs that will be displayed at an exhibition at Fujifilm House of Photography in Covent Garden, London.

The gallery was to be open to the public from July 5 – 75 years to the day that the NHS was established.

Each of the 75 shortlisted photographers were invited to a special ceremony at the Fujifilm House of Photography to unveil all of the finalist’s photographs, with a winner for each of the competition’s five categories announced before the event.

Mike, a Learning Disability Nurse for over 16 years, submitted the photograph of his patient receiving care, to shine a spotlight on the work of the Learning Disability Service and the support their patients receive.

Mike said: “For me, visiting a patient who requires lots of specialist equipment isn’t unusual, it’s often the norm and I feel it is a vocation rather than a job.

“What is important, as in every area of healthcare, is that we provide care and support to the best of our abilities, placing our patients right at the centre, so I wanted to show this in the photograph I submitted.”

“I’m very humbled at receiving the recognition – I hadn’t actually told anyone about it so I think my colleagues will be quite shocked when I tell them I’ve been shortlisted.

"I’m very proud to be heading to London for the event that my photograph will be representing the Learning Disability Service.”

Petro, who submitted a photograph that had been part of her #behindcloseddoors exhibition showing her team's life in an intensive care unit during the pandemic said she wanted to showcase the bravery, dedication and determination of her colleagues during the most difficult time of their careers.

Petro, who works at WWL as a Clinical Informatics Manager and Clinical Safety Officer, and was previously a sister on Intensive Care said: “I’m delighted to be shortlisted amongst some incredible photographers on a national level and it is fantastic to be part of the celebrations of the NHS and its achievements over the past 75 years,”

“The photo always drew attention where it was exhibited and, to me, it shows the best of humanity of the staff who worked through incredibly difficult situations day in and out throughout the pandemic.”

Dame Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England and one of the six competition judges, said: “We were amazed at the quality of photographs submitted to the competition – it’s incredible to see the way entrants have documented life in the NHS.

"The compassion, the ingenuity, the camaraderie, the good times and when it gets tough – it’s all captured throughout the five categories and it’s a really fitting way to mark 75 years of the NHS.”

Joining Dame Ruth May on the judging panel were This Morning’s resident GP Dr Ellie, award-winning journalist Victoria Macdonald, eminent photographer Lewis Khan, Dr Habib Naqvi MBE and Fujifilm’s Theo Georghiades.

The five winners were also having their photograph displayed at the NHS 75th anniversary service at Westminster Abbey this week.