NHS workers at the Whittington Hospital have brightened up the wards by painting colourful new rainbow murals on the hallways.
Dr Mumtaz Mooncey, who has worked with the NHS for five years and is currently training to specialise in paediatrics, came up with the arty idea on a night shift in early June and proposed it to her manager, who gave it the green light.
With the help of nurses Felicity Dick and Shelina Yasmin, Mumtaz painted a large mural in the entrance to the paediatrics emergency department waiting room in just two days.
They received paint donations from Chris Stevens trade shop on Holloway Road and local residents, but also had to go on an “emergency B&Q trip”.
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“I have done a bit of painting before, but not really any more,” Mumtaz said. “But I love creative stuff and I was looking around the department and some areas needed a paint and I thought I would like to do a mural.”
They chose a rainbow in recognition of the coronavirus pandemic and used a projector to follow the design.
The result has been so well received that Mumtaz and her team - now expanded to include junior doctor Emily House, nurse Ben Lawrence and ambulatory care manager Alisha Brewster - were asked to do other murals around the hospital.
A Winnie the Pooh design is in a paediatrics cubicle treatment area and an NHS-Superman inspired piece is in the staff room.
The staff room mural, finished on June 17, includes a dedication to a colleague who passed away in 2018 - nurse Stephen Ojeneye.
All the pieces have been completed on the volunteers’ days off.
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Mumtaz said: “We are really pleased and we have had quite a few people saying that it’s good and not what they were expecting.
“It has created a buzz, it makes people feel quite proud to have been working through this pandemic.
“We wanted to mark the current times through using the rainbow theme, and show our gratitude for the kindness and support the NHS has received.”
She thanked everyone who teamed up to make the murals possible.
In April, Mumtaz raised nearly £2,200 for the bereaved families of NHS workers who have died from coronavirus by running her own marathon in the streets around the Whittington Hospital.
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