Community staff have captured a snapshot of 2022 by locking in a time capsule at Darlaston Health Centre.

The West Locality team within Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is made up of Community Nurses, the Professional Development team and the High Intensity User team.

West Locality Lead Clare Guest and Community Professional Development Coordinator Laura Moore came up with the idea following this year’s International Nurses’ Day.

Clare said: “I think that Nurses’ Day is a valuable day to mark and reflect on nurses practice and all the good work that has been encountered through such a varied 12 months.

“The theme of Nurses’ Day this year was ‘A Voice to Lead.’ We decided that it would be lovely to capture the voice of the West Locality team in 2022 to lead into the future for future nurses to see how we practice now and what is current for comparison.”

The capsule includes the following items:

• Predictions from staff of how community nursing and the locality will look in 10 years’ time.
• Written pieces from staff about themselves.
• An overview of who is in the locality.
• Poignant articles of the time – petrol shortages, COVID-19 supply chain issues, platinum jubilee commemorations, first private launch to space and a newspaper article about a firm that donated food to the locality.
• PPE
• Lanyard
• Lateral Flow Test
• Mobile phone
• Rainbow badge
• Union jack (for jubilee).

Clare added: “The staff felt quite excited to mark history with their own story and current practice for future nurses to compare changes in 2032 when it is opened.

“I hope the time capsule is valuable to reflect on practice and compare how far that clinical practice has moved forward. I hope that it will be valuable to compare nursing culture too. We have asked the nurses who open the capsule to put in their predictions and memorabilia for the following 10 years on Nurses’ Day and to start a tradition.”