5 minute read
THIS IS ME
THIS IS ME
As former MP Rosie Cooper takes the chair at Mersey Care, MC
editor Jackie Rankin talks to the woman behind the role.
Rosie Cooper is busier than ever. She has been interviewed for a documentary by actor and BBC Strictly Come Dancing winner Rose Ayling Ellis about the challenges deaf people face. The Eastenders star had backed a campaign by Rosie and deaf charities to make British Sign Language a legal language.
As curtain calls go, Rosie’s departure from politics was spectacular. In late 2021, as the other Rose was holding up the Strictly glitter ball, Rosie saw her private member’s bill voted through Parliament with all party support. It became law in April 2022.
Campaigners had long argued that BSL is an indigenous minority language with a rich cultural heritage. As a child of deaf adults Rosie experienced that richness; her profoundly deaf father had successfully campaigned for subtitles on TV programmes.
“When the Bill became law, it felt like we’d delivered social justice, changed attitudes. My dad wouldn’t have accepted anything less.”
With a wry grin she recalls how her animated hand movements are often misread as annoyance or impatience. “That’s just how deaf people communicate” she says. “It’s my first language.”
There’s an energy about Rosie Cooper. How will it be utilised in her new role?
“My heart has always been in health. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty and people should expect me to get into the detail. I was told the executive team at Mersey Care is probably the best in the Northwest. That’s a phenomenal reputation to have, but the truth is, however good we think we are; we can be better.”
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“There’s a lot to consider when we create and improve services. We must consider everyone who might use them, and we need people to tell us where we can do better.
“Integrating physical and mental health is vital. They go hand in hand and too many people are put at risk if they’re not connected. It’s great that we’re forming strong bonds with local health partners, and finding ways to work together.
“Of course, we can’t do it without great community services, so someone can be discharged home quickly and safely, or better still, not go into hospital. People thrive when they’re cared for in their own home.
“Community services are often forgotten about when people talk about healthcare – they shouldn’t be.
“We’re also using technology to create services that mean people don’t need to go to hospital for treatment.”
Supersized ideas are no stranger to the woman who, as a huge Elvis fan, returned to Liverpool after a trip to Memphis in the 60s and used her role as a city councillor to help get the Beatles freedom of the city.
She tries to keep personal and public lives separate, but her passion for public service is personal.
Her door, she says will be always open, especially to staff.
“Terry Wogan once asked Dolly Parton why she was on the boards of her many businesses. Quick as a flash she said: ‘I kind of figure that no one looks after my interests the way I do.’
“NHS staff work hard, if we’re going to make space to recharge batteries and energise people, we need to be doing things that make a difference to frontline staff.”
“Patients know what works for them and what doesn’t, staff know what’s needed for that to happen, it’s all about coproduction. We need to harness the power that’s out there. I’m undertaking to listen – I may not always be able to get what you want but I’ll get an answer. If you have an idea, I want to be with you saying – why not?”
“I see my job not just to help improve, but to find where systems are failing and solve the problem. I was the ears and voice of my mum and dad. In everything I’ve ever done in public life, what I’m really doing is articulating what the people around me need and want. I will do my level best to fix, break down obstacles – whatever it takes to find a solution. There’s no point in papering over a problem. If you sort it, then it’s not a problem anymore.”
• The British Sign Language Act gives BSL recognition as a minority language of Britain. It also requires government departments to explain how they are working to promote and facilitate the use of BSL.
Rosie Cooper with (l to r) her family, actor and campaigner Rose Ayling Ellis, and BSL Bill supporters.
