Children spend afternoon with QA Hospital patients

PATIENTS were given a treat when pre-school children came to visit.
Children from Little People's Nursery with patients at QA Hospital  Picture: Habibur RahmanChildren from Little People's Nursery with patients at QA Hospital  Picture: Habibur Rahman
Children from Little People's Nursery with patients at QA Hospital Picture: Habibur Rahman

The youngsters went to the older persons for medicine ward at Queen Alexandra Hospital, in Cosham, to meet the patients and sing them carols.

The group, from Little People’s Nursery in Drayton, also decorated gingerbread men and biscuits as well as handing out mince pies.

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Kerry Budd, operations manager for the ward, organised the visit as part of an on-going programme of activities for the patients.

She said: ‘Visits like this get the patients out of their beds, socialising and moving.

‘We like to get them doing different things and having the children in is fantastic.

‘The patients always like speaking to them and joining in. They have all been singing Christmas songs together and decorating the biscuits, it is lovely to see the interaction.

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‘We try and do a range of things on the ward with different activities every day.

‘It isn’t always visits, but we try and keep things interesting and get the patients out of their beds.’

The youngsters enjoyed the afternoon too, from selecting what sweets to decorate the gingerbread men with to pulling crackers with the patients and putting on the paper Christmas hats.

Three-year-old Layla Cann-Hallam said: ‘Coming to the hospital has been fun.

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‘I decorated the biscuits and picked Smarties to put on them.

‘I used red icing to help them stick.’

Jake Howe, also three, added: ‘It’s been fun. We sang Little Donkey which I liked.’

New chief operating officer at QA Hospital Paul Bytheway went along to the visit to meet the patients and see what sort of activities they do.

He said it was good of the staff to organise such events.

‘It is great because it brings a whole different sort of energy to the ward,’ Paul explained.

‘It’s lovely to see the children interacting with the patients and making them smile while they are in hospital. I think the children benefit from it as well by seeing what happens in a hospital.’

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