The on-going legacy of Frank Radcliffe
A department at Kettering General Hospital (KGH) has investigated the real-life person behind their name. The Frank Radcliffe clinic at KGH offer an orthopaedic outpatient service. Serving over 45,000 patients per year, the team deal with elective patients, alongside patients who have broken limbs or have soft tissue injuries.
Karen Rickwood, Deputy Sister, Frank Radcliffe, is a member of the clinic’s Shared Decision-Making Council. These councils enable staff to collaborate as a team to discuss matters that are important to them and their patients. Enabling positive changes to improve the experience for both patients and colleagues.
“As a Shared Decision-Making Council we wanted to learn more about the man behind the name of our department. I was able to find information about Frank Radcliffe and his time at the hospital and was able to pull together a small wall-mounted display about our namesake,” said Karen. “Then by coincidence, a relative visited the department and saw the wall display. They mentioned how they owned some of Frank’s medical books and other items and suggested they could be donated to the hospital.”
The Shared Decision-Making Council thought of the idea of creating a permanent display cabinet to celebrate Frank and his life. Wanting to involve the local community, they called on the talents of the students at Tresham College. Gemma designed the display cabinet, while fellow students Alfie and Archie who built the cabinet.
Once the cabinet was in place and Frank’s personal items collected, the Shared Decision-Making Council arranged for an opening ceremony to show Frank’s amazing artefacts and celebrate the man behind the clinic’s name.
Frank’s family were invited to the event including his son Peter and his wife, alongside Frank’s grandson Simon, his daughter Adrienne and Frank’s goddaughter Anne. Also invited were Alfie and Archie from Tresham College who built the cabinet.
Frank’s son, Peter said “It’s been an emotional time seeing this come to fruition. Frank would have been very proud, not that he would have shown it. He was a very modest man. This is a wonderful way to see him remembered.”
The cabinet contains numerous items from Frank’s life. This includes a photo of Frank taken from his national identity card, medical 
notebooks written by Frank and an article he'd written for the local newspaper. Alongside medical items including a surgical nail and plate set, a vintage replacement hip and kidney dish with bandages.
“We hope Frank would have been proud of the work we’ve done to preserve his legacy at KGH. It’s been a fantastic collaboration between all members of the SDMC, colleagues across the hospital, the local college and Frank’s family” said Karen.
The cabinet and its contents can be found in the waiting area of the Frank Radcliffe clinic at KGH.