Staff have so much in common with the aforementioned bird, not least courage
End Game is nothing if not a connoisseur of commissioning support unit branding, and has been delighted by South, Central and West CSU’s choice of a hummingbird as its logo.
We like the vibrant yet soothing colour scheme, and the way it looks a bit like a robot.
Why a hummingbird though? Happily, there is a page on its website to answer precisely that question. “Our hummingbird was chosen for more than its aesthetic appeal… we value what it symbolises.”
Apparently it represents “determination, endurance, flexibility, adaptability, resilience and great courage”.
No argument on the latter – End Game has never met a cowardly hummingbird, and CSU staff have had to be very brave in the face of a protracted policy fiasco.
But actually hummingbirds are not in the least bit flexible. They are brilliantly adapted to do one thing better than any other living creature – probe deep holes in trees while hovering – and have come to be this way via natural selection over many millennia.
CSUs are nothing like this: their form has not been forged through evolution, or even intelligent design, but by the ludicrous brief that they have to be good at everything, despite facing competition for resources from many hundreds of highly evolved specialists.
Also, hummingbirds are very small. CSUs are all about doing things at scale, more like a walrus, whose girth insulates it from the freezing waters of the NHS admin budget.
As for endurance – well, a hummingbird lives for five years. If SCWCSU lasts that long it will be pretty good for an NHS commissioning organisation and exceptionally brilliant for a CSU.
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