The RNOH Charity funds improvements to the children's service

Posted by Sam Bowie on 18 June 2015

The RNOH has recently been able to make a number of significant improvements to its children’s service, thanks to a grant from the RNOH Charity.

The grant has enabled the Trust to equip the paediatric recovery room in Theatres with new artwork, a new sound system, and ‘sensory products’ which allow calming, child-friendly images to be projected onto the walls of the room. This new multi-sensory environment offers our young patients a much-needed distraction from the clinical environment; they are able to interact with and focus on the images on the walls, or the music being played, which helps reduce anxiety, and takes their attention away from medical matters.

The Charity’s grant has also funded two important upgrades to the Coxen Ward:

The first is the expansion of the space around the children’s beds (as pictured below). It is now well-established that a parent's presence is a positive factor in aiding a child's recovery, and that their practical contribution to care at the bedside is essential. With this in mind, the Trust took the decision to reduce the Coxen’s Ward’s bed base by three beds; this has provided space next to each bed for a pull-out bed-chair, which enables parents to stay with their children 24 hours a day.

The second upgrade is the creation of a new parents’ room. It was decided that, as parents were now staying on the bed-chairs, they would need somewhere to make themselves drinks and snacks, and to have breaks away from the ward area in a quiet, private space. An additional benefit of the new room is that it allows parents to get to know each other, and to gain support from one another.

Clare Kehoe, the RNOH’s Lead Nurse for Children’s Services, said: “All the nurses and staff on the ward are very grateful for this grant. It has enabled them to support parents more positively during what is an anxious and stressful time. Staff have recognised that the parents are now much happier, more at ease, and more able to support each other. Happier parents equates to happier staff. The unit has received a great deal of positive feedback from parents and children.”