Jo Struthers
Graduate HROD Trainee - McKinney House, Musgrave Park Hospital
Title of Work:
Background Buttercups
Let’s celebrate our background buttercups – without you, the Belfast Trust cannot blossom.
Medium: Oil on box Canvas
When the pandemic started, I worked in medical physics within the Trust, but I had a career change in September 2020 to work in HR in McKinney House. Joining recruitment at the start of surge 2 of Covid-19 suddenly felt very overwhelming as I had never worked in HR before, yet the team was stretched to its absolute limit as we recruited temporary staff through the Workforce Appeal to support the Nightingale hospital among many other areas. My piece of work ‘Background Buttercups’ is meant to represent the unsung heroes of the Covid-19 pandemic, those who have put so much effort into the background of the organisation. I have been welcomed into HR during this time and have seen how teams have gone above and beyond to facilitate our ICU and other essential services. With this painting, I like to think of the foreground buttercups as our superheroes – our ICU nurses, our respiratory doctors and our healthcare assistants at the front line. Then, the background buttercups are our cleaners, porters, estates services, mental health supports, HR, finance, students and all the services who are essential in making up the bigger picture.
Jo Struthers
