CHILDREN can play and enjoy the outdoors in between outpatient appointments at Heartlands Hospital.
The new playground has been funded by Heartlands Hospital Charity to help relax the young patients as well as their family and the staff treating them during as they wait for appointment, which can take all day.
Rather than sitting in a dull waiting area they have interactive games to play with and put them at ease. It also helps staff engage with their patients to distract them while they receive their treatment.
This refurbishment was possible, because of Heartlands Hospital Charity’s Children’s Appeal, which we re-launched last year.
The goal was to help transform more of the Children’s Outpatients Departments into welcoming environments for the young patients they see every year, during what can be a daunting time with repeat appointments.
The Charity has already made a huge difference refurbishing the Children’s Wards, with bright and colourful decoration, as well as a fun and safe play area to help children recover from treatment.
Young patients can stay on wards for weeks at a time, so having these fun spaces helps them to cope with being in hospital, and helps them and their families to feel comfortable, and process what can be a very difficult time.
Heartlands Hospital is part of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and treats over 120,000 children each year.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “We now want to help the Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Departments at Heartlands Hospital, by creating a bespoke play area, that will transform the way staff assess their young patients’ progress.
“The new play area for the Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Team will be like the one created for outpatients but will be designed to support staff as they assess their young patients’ and help to improve the child’s development.
“The appointments can be lengthy and numerous throughout the year, so this will help to make them more fun and mean the children are more likely to look forward to coming to their appointments at Heartlands.”
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