How the statue outside the Whittington Hospital will look

A STATUE commemorating the nurses and midwives who came to the UK as part of the Windrush generation will be unveiled next month outside the Whittington Hospital.

Around 40,000 from around the Commonwealth came to Britain between 1948 and 1973 to help the fledgling NHS, which was facing the challenge of recruiting enough staff.

Community activists group Nubian Jak, set up by Dr Jak Beula who used to work as a social worker in Islington, is working with the council to commission a granite statue outside the Whittington.

It will be unveiled on July 5, which is “NHS Day”.

Islington Council’s Local Initiatives Fund is donating £16,191.67 towards the statue.

Currently there are only two memorials dedicated to black women in a public space across the capital.

Councillor Una O’Halloran, the Town Hall’s executive member for community development, said: “It is so important that we properly commemorate this generation of nurses and midwives who helped make this country and its healthcare system what it is today.

“We know that there are not enough monuments and history written about this generation, which is why I’m asking everyone to donate to this fundraiser if they can.”

Dr Beula said: “The Nubian Jak Community Trust is delighted to be working in partnership with Islington Council and Whittington Hospital Trust to honour these brave and self-sacrificing NHS staff who have been serving the institution since 1948, the year of its foundation, the arrival of the MV Windrush and renaming of Whittington Hospital.

“It is only fitting that in this year, designated by the UN as the International Year for Nurses and Midwives, we honour these nurses and midwives by memorialising them in stone in perpetuity.”