ABOUT US

Spread a Smile brings joy and laughter to seriously ill children in NHS hospitals and hospices across the country.

Through in-person and virtual visits, our entertainers – from magicians to fairies, artists, musicians and therapy dogs – generate moments of distraction and excitement, helping young patients and their families cope with the pain and anxiety of serious illness and hospitalisation.

Alongside our visit programme, our resident artists help to make the hospital environment more child-friendly and we also deliver a programme of family-focused events, enabling families to spend precious time together outside of hospital.

Since our founding in 2013, we have built a reputation for developing bespoke relationships with each family and each health setting, so that we can offer the most meaningful, impactful support.

In 2023-24, we will deliver over 12,000 in-person bedside visits and over 2,000 virtual visits, in partnership with 32 hospitals and four hospice partners. We plan to increase the number of partners to 38 this year.

Our core services include:

Entertainer visits – scheduled face-to-face and virtual hospital visits to children under the care of our hospital partners from our team of professional entertainers including play specialists, artists, magicians, musicians, poets and therapy dogs.

Outings and Events – an extended programme of family-focused theatre trips and physical and virtual family, sibling and teenage events plus regular treat drops across our hospital partners.

Art Initiatives – Enriching Spaces creates colourful murals on hospital wards and windows to make the hospital environment a more welcoming place for young patients and their families. Our hand-painted, bespoke masks and moulds support young patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment.

NHS London

  • Barnet Hospital*
  • Chelsea and Westminster Hospital*
  • Croydon University Hospital*
  • Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH)*
  • Epsom Hospital*
  • The Evelina Children’s Hospital*
  • Helen & Douglas House
  • King’s College Hospital*
  • Kingston Hospital*
  • Newham Hospital*
  • Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice
  • North Middlesex University Hospital*
  • Northwick Park Hospital*
  • Princess Alexandra Hospital*
  • Queen Mary’s Hospital for Children*
  • The Royal Brompton Hospital*
  • The Royal London Hospital*
  • The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital*
  • St George’s Hospital*
  • St Mary’s Hospital*
  • The Royal Marsden Hospital*
  • University College Hospital (UCLH)*
  • Watford General Hospital*
  • West Middlesex University Hospital*
  • Whipps Cross Hospital*
  • The Whittington Hospital*

NHS South East

  • Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice*
  • Demelza Hospice Care for Children*
  • Southampton Children’s Hospital
  • William Harvey Hospital, Ashford*

NHS Midlands

  • Leicester Children’s Hospital
  • Nottingham Children’s Hospital

NHS South West

  • Bristol Royal Hospital for Children

NHS East of England

  • Addenbrookes Children’s Hospital, Cambridge

NHS North West

  • Christie Hospital, Manchester

NHS Wales

  • Wrexham Maelor Hospital

* Indicates regular in person hospital visits

  • What We Do

    We spread smiles to seriously ill children and teenagers in hospital by providing entertainment, art activities and digital services...

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  • Our Impact

    Find out why smiles are so important for children in longterm hospital care...

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  • Our Story

    Spread a Smile was founded in 2013 by Vanessa Crocker and Josephine Segal...

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  • Our People

    Meet the Spread a Smile team...

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  • Our Publications

    Our published reports...

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  • Our Policies

    The policies and procedures that guide our work

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OUR PARTNERS