An enthusiastic and grateful reader from Ealing wrote to Poems in the Waiting Room. "What a really lovely idea! Thank you very much for lighting up our doctor's surgery waiting room. The day's weather was awful! The atmosphere in the waiting room none too healthy. But your poems are all wonderful - and meaningful. Well done and thanks......"

Waiting Room Poems

Poems in the Waiting Room (PitWR) is a registered arts in health charity (No 1099033) which supplies short collections of poems for patients to read while waiting to see their doctor. In a patient centred NHS, poetry arts in health too needs to be patient centred. The readers are patients - the worried well and the worried sick. The poems draw from the springs of well-being. In time of trouble, a measure of comfort is welcome The poems cover both the canon of English verse and contemporary works - poetry from Quill to Qwerty.

There is no charge to the patient or to the NHS host. The poems are presented as a three-folded A4 pamphlet, printed both sides on card. The poetry cards are distributed quarterly. Each poetry card provides some seven or eight poems with about two hundred lines or so of poetry.

The registered charity's aim is to show gratitude to health service staff for their care and to promote poetry. The patient may keep the free poetry card as an enduring rather than ephemeral contact with the poetry.

The original idea in 1998 was to serve locally only some thirty surgeries in South West London. But soon demand grew, fuelled mostly by word of mouth. The number of surgeries served had risen to over 450 by 2002. To meet demand, distribution was extended nation-wide, and a major expansion programme was launched 2003. The number of waiting rooms currently served totals some 1400.

PitWR still welcomes requests to join the scheme from NHS general practises and similar health service units. All that is needed is a request together with contact names and address.

Worldwide

PitWR started as a small scale charitable project in Richmond, Surrey. Its success aroused international interest. PitWR meets requests to start overseas schemes with offers of a licence to use the copyright to PitWR locally, seed core funding, editorial advice on poetry selection, copyright and guidelines together with management advice on launching and developing PitWR locally. The sole conditions are adherence to the PitWR editorial guidelines and production of poetry cards in similar format to UK so as to preserve a worldwide image.

The first international launch was in County Kildare Eire, which attracted much press attention and even a note in the New Yorker magazine. The most successful to date was launched in Dunedin Otago New Zealand. Again the scheme attracted good press coverage which stimulated local funding. The Otago project soon spread throughout New Zealand with strong support from local poets and local health services. A request for the poetry cards has also come from Samoa.

Discussions are under way for further schemes in Australia and South Africa. PitWR has two foot holds in the USA with clients in Las Vegas and Pittsburgh, and has discussed USA projects with local poets. Kay Ryan, the USA Poet laureate has been a firm support since of PitWR its launch. PitWR is now well established worldwide.

Submissions

Submissions of poems to be published in the series are welcome. PitWR seeks to become a nationwide showcase for contemporary poetry. Submissions should follow PitWR Submission Guidelines. Free samples of a PitWR poetry cards may be obtained from the address below.

Funding

The prime source of funding long-term, to complement private trust funds, is  the PitWR Friends scheme. The scheme was launched with the spring 2008 edition. The response has proved very encouraging and a steady growth is envisaged over the coming years.

The project was initially sponsored Lee Donaldson Associates Ltd, the founding editor's private Company of economic and environment consultants. On PitWR's registration as a charity, the Company established The Beatrice Trust, with the family of the editor as trustees, to manage gift aid. To ensure PitWR's future, The Beatrice Trust has guaranteed a core funding grant annually for until 2010. The Trust also provides seed funding for international development. 

The Carlisle based The Emerton Christie Charitable Trust made an unsolicited grant in January 2006 and doubled this sum subsequently. The funds have been devoted to expanding PitWR in the Carlisle and the Newcastle localities.

In spring 2008, The Tanner Trust, founded to commemorate the British industrialist Basil Tanner made a substantial donation. This grant led to supply to NHS surgeries in Cornwall, Oxford, Bucks, Sussex, Essex and the Merseyside, areas of special interest to the Tanner Trust.

Additional supplementary support was given through spontaneous grants from the Oakdale Trust.

Organisation

PitWR, Registered Charity (No. 1099033), is incorporated as a Company limited by guarantee (04836215) and is managed by the trustee body and Executive Committee, providing professional advice in literary and executive editing, production and distribution of the poetry cards.

All donations to support PitWR are welcome. Postal donations as gift aid may be mailed to the address below. On line gift aid donations may by clicking Charity Choice Type Poems in the Waiting Room in the Charity Name box: then click Search. On the Poems in the Waiting Room page, click DONATE NOW and follow on-screen instructions.