A Dundee surgeon’s stunning artwork is to be included in a new art book raising cash for NHS Charities Together.
Surgeon Alastair Faulkner’s painting Trauma features 8 frontline health workers, including himself, caring for a patient.
The book, Portraits for NHS Heroes, goes on sale this week with a share of profits going to 140 official NHS charities across the UK which help hospitals and patients.
Alastair, 32, who works at Ninewells Hospital and is training as a trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, said: “We treat patients who have sustained injuries and broken bones every day.
“Every morning we have a meeting discussing all the new patients who have been admitted to hospital known as the ‘trauma meeting’.
“I had this idea that I wanted to paint a group portrait showcasing the different team members in our department involved in this meeting and delivering patient care.
“These members include surgeons, anaesthetists, doctors, nurses, operating theatre staff, radiographers, and allied healthcare professionals.”
The initiative was started by artist Tom Croft who paired frontline workers with artists via Instagram.
It attracted thousands of artists culminating in an online exhibition organised by Paintings in Hospitals.
Alastair said his oil on canvas work “represents everything good about the NHS”.
He said: “I worked from photographs of the team taken before formal social distancing and lockdown restrictions were implemented.
“As this portrait was painted in a time of COVID-19 this was represented by the masked figure in PPE on the right of the canvas, and the skeleton represents our specialty and death.
“The patient is about to have an operation on their hip and the radiographer is holding an X-Ray demonstrating a broken hip.
“This painting felt like a perfect fit that celebrated the huge influence both art and the NHS have had in my life.”
Portraits for NHS Heroes will be published by Bloomsbury Caravel on November 12 at £25.
All royalties, a minimum of £2.50 from the sale of each book will be paid to NHS Charities Together to fund vital projects.
