Our hospital visits sit at the heart of our services. In 2023/24 our team of professional artists and entertainers including musicians, magicians, poets, fairies, face-painters, therapy dogs and children’s characters will make more than 12,000 bedside visits across all our NHS hospital and hospice partners.
- Face to Face Entertainer Visits A schedule of regular hospital visits to all our NHS London partners enables our artists, fairies, musicians, magicians, poets, face-painters, therapy dogs and children’s characters to make bedside visits to hundreds of children and teenagers every month
- Bedside Visits one to one bedside visits from our artists and entertainers as well as group visits for all the children on a ward to engage in a joint activity
- Smile TV Our own free to view 24/7 channel featuring pre-recorded entertainment, shows, interviews and tutorials from our entertainers, partners and celebrities
- Bespoke Referrals Personalised visits for individual children and teenagers to mark a milestone in their treatment or to support them and their families through palliative or end of life care.
- Celebrity Visits Ward visits from stars of stage, screen and sport.
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’.
