Warren Chapman closes his final chapter at City

October 28, 2024

After nearly four decades since his career began, Warren Chapman is preparing to say farewell to a place that has been more than just a hospital to him.

As November approaches, so do the final farewells to a hospital that has been a cornerstone of the community since 1887. For Warren and many others, City Hospital – once known as Dudley Road Hospital – is far more than just a place of work. It’s been a place where careers have grown, friendships have been made, and memories have been created.

Warren’s journey at City Hospital began in November 1984, when he first donned his uniform as a student nurse. “I started my nurse training right here, at Dudley Road. I qualified in 1987 and took my first post in Trauma and Orthopaedics on Ward D9,” he recalls. It was the start of a long career in healthcare that, despite a brief detour, Warren never lost touch with.

That detour took him to Birmingham Accident Hospital and later into the world of advertising copywriting. But despite trying new things, the pull to come back was strong. “I continued working here on weekends,” Warren says, “and by 1994, I decided to return full time.” His return led him to the field of endoscopy, where he has dedicated himself to the specialty for 30 years.

Warren’s role has evolved over his career. One of his proudest achievements was being among the first nurses in the UK to perform endoscopy procedures – traditionally a role reserved for doctors. Today, he is the specialty lead for endoscopy at SWB, managing his endoscopy lists and seeing patients in clinic. “When I started, you didn’t see nurses doing things like this,” Warren explained. “Now, we’re performing roles that used to be done by doctors. It’s a huge shift.”

But it’s not just the advancements in medicine and technology that Warren remembers most—it’s the people. The diversity of the workforce has been a memorable part of his career. “When I first started, I worked alongside the Windrush generation,” he says. “I was fortunate to learn from their experiences and be enriched by the culture my new colleagues brought.”

Over the years, City Hospital became even more diverse, welcoming staff from the Indian subcontinent, the Philippines, Nepal, and Africa. “The multiculturalism of the workforce and the patients has made City Hospital such a vibrant, welcoming place.”

Among his fondest memories, Warren speaks about the band he co-founded at the Trust, The Corridors, named after the hospital’s main spine, that many bandmates worked on. “It was supposed to be a one-off performance for the Year 2000 Trust celebrations, but we played as a band for a decade. We played at Trust functions, private events and pubs. The band included a surgeon, a gastroenterologist, two operating department practitioners from Theatres, my sister, and me. It was such a fun and unexpected part of my career here.”

As we prepare to make the final moves to Midland Met, Warren told us: “I’m looking forward to working in a modern hospital with state-of-the-art facilities. The Winter Garden looks like a fantastic place to take a break, so I’ll be grabbing a drink there.”

Warren added: “It’s fitting that as we approach November 2024, it will mark exactly 40 years since I started here as a student. It feels like the closing of one chapter and the start of another.”

Outside of work, Warren’s passions continue to grow. Recently, he added “author” to his list of accomplishments, publishing his first book, Koftas and Yellow Rice.