Garry Swann named on Queen’s Birthday Honours List

Garry Swann, Trust Archivist and former Medical Photographer at Doncaster Royal Infirmary has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to the NHS, as announced in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List last week.

Garry, who has completed over half of century of service to the NHS, was born in Doncaster in 1941. Having trained in Sheffield, he attained his certification from the British Institute of Professional Photography and in 1966 was appointed to set up Doncaster Royal Infirmary’s Department of Medical Photography.

Personally responsible for training and developing many young clinical photographers, during his time at as Head of Medical Photography at Doncaster, Garry trained a new generation of photographers, one of whom heads the department today.

Nick Exley, Lead Clinical Photographer at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals, has worked with Garry since 1987 and has seen the department thrive under Garry’s leadership. Nick and Garry both received Special Distinction awards in the Kodak Awards to Medical Illustrators competition in 1994.

Nick has since trained an apprentice Clinical Photographer, passing on Garry’s expert knowledge of the field to yet another generation, which is also proving to be very successful. Holly Ridgeway-Bowyer, now an Assistant Clinical Photographer, was highly commended by Health Education England at their apprenticeship awards in 2017.

Since his retirement, Garry has remained a very active (albeit honorary) member of Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals. He expertly manages the Trust’s archive of photographs and other memorabilia, preserving and sharing the Trust’s long and illustrious history in his books and writing a regular column in the hospital’s magazine. His collections of photographs, documents and other memorabilia have grown steadily over the years and have been the subject of several exhibitions, gracing permanent displays on the walls of the hospital.

At present, Garry is in the final stages of producing a book which will celebrate in pictures the history of Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals. The book will be published to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the NHS on 5 July and will be sold to raise funds for the Trust’s charity.

Suzy Brain England OBE, Chair of the Board at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals, said: “Garry’s knowledge and experience of clinical photography has formed the foundations of a very successful team of photographers, still excelling in the field over 50 years after the department was founded by him. We’re delighted that he has been awarded this British Empire Medal as it recognises his outstanding service to the NHS, both as a professional, and in his role since retirement.

“Garry has helped to keep the illustrious history of the Trust alive through his collections and writings and we are most grateful to Garry for this, particularly for his efforts in producing his most recent book which will capture our history and raise funds for our charity.”

Garry will be invited to receive his British Empire Medal in the near future.

Photo 1 shows: Garry Swann and Nick Exley in 1994, with the photographs that won them their awards.

Photo 2 shows: Three generations of Medical Photographers, Garry Swann, Nick Exley and Holly Ridgeway-Bowyer.