Our entertainer visits to children in hospital are at the heart of our services. In 2024/25 our team of professional entertainers including musicians, magicians, poets, fairies, artists and therapy dogs and made over 13,018 bedside visits across our NHS hospital and hospice partners. We also offer a range of virtual visits for children in hospital or at home.
- In-person entertainer visits – We run a regular schedule of entertainer visits to our NHS hospital partners. These enable us to directly engage with and spread smiles to hundreds of children and teenagers every month.
- Virtual entertainer sessions – Our varied calendar of one-to-one and group virtual sessions for children and their siblings can be enjoyed from hospital or at home. They include arts and crafts, fairy sessions, singing, magic, story telling and more.
- Smile TV – Spread a Smile’s free to view 24/7 channel features pre-recorded entertainment, shows, interviews and tutorials from our entertainers and celebrities.
- Bespoke visits, referrals and Smile Parties – We provide personalised visits to mark a milestone in a child’s treatment, to help celebrate a special occasion or to support families through palliative or end of life care.
A report published in the British Medical Journal in December 2020 found that “children and teenagers receiving treatment for acute or chronic conditions improve physically and emotionally after positive interactions that make them laugh and smile – leading a reduction in stress, fatigue, pain and distress.” This underlines our own research, which highlighted how our visits boost children even ‘at their lowest’ medical state and in their ‘darkest’ place and describes our services as a ‘lifeline’.
