Wilma is a Senior Research Fellow working within the Breast Unit at the Western. She has a long association with cancer care starting her career in 1973 in the Radiotherapy Unit WGH, now called the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, and from 1988 onwards with the Edinburgh Breast Unit previously at Longmore Hospital in Newington- now Longmore House the headquarters of Historic Environment Scotland. After a long career in clinical care her most recent interest is how to transform the patient experience by improving the spaces that they spend time in. Wilma showed us the many projects that she has been involved with that illustrate how a lot of thinking has gone into the whole patient experience. Something that she is very rightly proud of.
Her collaborations with patients, staff and artists have made a real difference. Following the various upgrades to the Unit patients enter welcoming, peaceful and supporting spaces and staff equally reap the benefit from vastly improved working environments. Wilma has also found it interesting to track the developments within the Edinburgh Breast Unit, its facilities and Mammography to show how the usage of these areas of the Western General has changed over the years which can be found by clicking the links. A far more detailed exploration of her work will soon appear as a recorded interview in the 150 Voices section.
To explore the different talents that go into the transformation of a space Frances Priest, the artist who worked with Wilma on the Breast Unit Outpatient waiting room, will tell us more about her process of developing ideas and making a creative response in the next article.