I’d always noticed it as an interesting place to walk through because of the steam that rises from the pathway. And it always made me think of a New York sort of sidewalk.”

Listen to Chris talking about their Haven

Summary transcript of audio

I’m Chris Stirling. I’m the site director at the Western General, and I’m responsible for all of the site on the Western General and the services we provide, particularly for medicine, surgery and cancer services. So, um, making sure that all of their service services are staffed and are delivering what they’re supposed to for patients.

I was drawn to the NHS because I’ve got lots of doctors in my family. So I was quite well disposed to the NHS and interested in it and attracted to it and in a sort of strange circle of life kind of experience, I’ve ended up being responsible for the hospital that I was born in. I look out of my office at the literally the room I was born in.

I worked in London in the health service for about a decade, but I got married and my wife and I both wanted to leave London, and after taking a bit of time out, I wanted to return home to Edinburgh because I’d grown up here and lots of family here and lots of connections to this part of the world. So ended up working for NHS Lothian and then I started being the site director of the Western General in 2015, and I’ve been doing that ever since.

And this particular spot where we’re standing now is one I come to at least twice a day. I walk to work, and I started doing that during the pandemic and it became a bit more meaningful through that period. And I’d always noticed it as an interesting place to walk through because of the steam that rises from the pathway. And it always made me think of a New York sort of sidewalk – metaphorically it’s sort of walking through it, the steam – either coming into work, it’s the signaling of the start of the day and getting ready for that, and going the other direction at the end of the day was a tangible sense of trying to leave the day’s troubles behind and get back home.