We’ve held a special memorial service to honour Trust staff, as well as those from our partners Sodexo and Mitie, who have died since 2020.

As well as teams remembering their colleagues, friends and relatives were also invited to the service, held in a marquee at Queen’s Hospital on Tuesday 16 July.

Barbara L’Anfusa travelled from her home in Sicily, Italy specially to attend the service in memory of her husband, Giuseppe, a consultant interventional radiologist at our Trust.

Giuseppe, who had cancer, died in February 2020 aged just 55.

Barbara explained how he would spend six weeks working in the UK before travelling back to their home in Italy for four weeks off.

She said: “When he was working, I would come and spend two weeks with him, so we never spent more than 15 days apart. He was very happy to work here and would tell me how fulfilled he felt.

“I think it’s amazing what you are doing with this service. It’s nice to be among other people who are in a similar situation, and to be with Guiseppe’s friends and colleagues.”

Barbara was accompanied by two of Guiseppe’s close friends, nurse Cherry-Ann De Michele, who worked at our Trust until 2018, and her husband Luigi, a consultant in our Rapid Diagnostic Centre at King George Hospital. Barbara, Cherry-Ann and Luigi (l-r) are pictured together above.

Cherry-Ann said: “He was very dedicated, he was like my guardian. We’re here to keep his memory alive.

“Luigi and I previously lived in Lincolnshire and it was Guiseppe who encouraged us to move here and work at the Trust.”

Thirty-eight colleagues were remembered during the service, with the name of each one read out by one of our chaplains, Grace Allick.

Grace said: “We were so passionate to organise this service. It was about creating a moment for staff and families to come together and mark their loss.

“We know the significance of losing a colleague and with the day-to-day pressures of work you don’t always have the opportunity to mark that loss. This is how we’re giving our staff that opportunity.”

Our Chief Executive Matthew Trainer (below) was among speakers at the event. He said: “They chose to do something to help others and will live on in our thoughts and memories.

“This is an opportunity to honour them and their contribution.”