It has been the most difficult couple of years, and we at ACP-UK have greatly valued the connections we have built in our professional community during this time. This event is an opportunity to hear some beautiful poems which describe and celebrate different aspects of our work of care and the experiences of those we care for – in all its human aspects.

The two-hour event is in two parts. In the first we hear readings from the very successful These Are the Hands anthology which came out last year and features poems by and for those working in the NHS. The two editors of the anthology, Katie Amiel and Deborah Alma, talk about the book and its impact. Khadj Rouf, clinical psychologist and prize-winning poet, and Steve Griffiths, poet and consultant in health policy, also read poems.

In the second part we hear from Rob Gee, who is a stand up comedy poet and former psychiatric nurse. Rob runs the Comedy Asylum which is all about bringing comedy and poetry into mental health services. Rob reads group poems, which he creates together with groups of patients and staff. He also introduces Comedy Asylum participants Rosie Olivier-Heggs and Oli Sheridan who read from their work.