The Haemoglobinopathy Honeys abseiled for new art project
Our Big QMC Abseil is a popular event with patients, families of patients and even staff from across Nottingham’s NHS hospitals. One of the teams that took on the drop this year was the Haemoglobinopathy Honeys, which were a group comprised of healthcare professionals, patients and their families.
Clinical Psychologist, Laurie Hufton, explained why the team got involved
“The Haemoglobinopathy Honeys are a group that set out to abseil 100 foot down the side of the QMC to raise money for Creative Voices, an art project proposed to take place in 2026 with the aim to empower patients voices through creative expression of lived experiences of Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia, two diseases that affect the red blood cells.
We decided to do this following a national All-Party Parliamentary Group enquiry in 2021, into the care of people with Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia. ”. It was reported that awareness of Sickle Cell among healthcare professionals is low, with patients regularly having to educate healthcare professionals about the basics of their condition at times of significant pain and distress. Patient described being regularly treated with disrespect, not believed or listened to, and not treated as a priority by healthcare professionals. Many patients highlighted the role of racism in the negative attitudes towards patients with Sickle Cell, which overwhelmingly affects people with African or Caribbean heritage. It was also reported that services are under-resourced and under-staffed and there has been a distinct lack of investment in Sickle Cell research and treatments over decades.
In the 2024 Haemoglobinopathy Service Peer Review process, patients with Thalassaemia similarly reported that the wider hospital system had a lack of awareness about Thalassaemia and how to treat it, with peer review recommendations for increased information to be shared and displayed about Thalassaemia.
We don’t want any patient to feel this way, so we wanted to abseil to help fund the Creative Voices project, part of the Arts at NUH programme funded by Nottingham Hospitals Charity, to help our patients feel their voices are being heard.
The abseil team dressed as a range of artistic themed outfits (including Scholastica’s creative idea of haemoglobinopathy [red] honeys [bees] – red bees!) and charity T-shirts, the team were eager to fundraise for the project which will shine a light on conditions that are often not well understood.
The money raised from the abseil will go towards empowering the voices of the patient population, with support from the New Art Exchange in Hyson Green who have kindly offered to hold space for art workshops with adult haemoglobinopathy outpatients, and run an exhibition of patient produced artwork for a month. They’ll also be hosting seminars on the conditions to raise awareness. After the exhibition, the pieces will be homed within City Hospital and showcase the creativity of those who live with one of the conditions.
The project is currently being advertised to patients at NUH, ahead of the workshops and exhibition.
The Big QMC Abseil provided a fantastic opportunity for a fundraising collaboration which allowed for professionals to sit alongside patients to achieve the same shared goal.”
A huge thank you to the Haemaglobinopathy Honeys and their families for joining us at the Big QMC Abseil. If you’d like to be one of the first to hear about next year’s event, please click below.