Play department create child friendly COVID-19 leaflets
The play department at The Royal London Hospital have just launched their new child friendly COVID-19 information leaflets. The leaflets were produced with the help of Paediatric Consultant Dr Susie Minson and Medical Illustrations.
Play department’s clinical lead Lucy Wootton explained, “we used funding from our Barts Charity SPF to create the leaflets and Medical Illustrations were instrumental in developing a unique way of folding them, which was more child friendly”.
Lucy went on to say, “we found that there has already been a lot of resources shared in the community to help explain COVID-19 to children, which are fantastic. But we were unable to find many appropriate resources and information that explained what it is like for a child in a hospital setting and more specifically, on testing and the PPE staff are wearing”.
The play department became aware that the lack of information about testing and PPE was creating fear and anxiety amongst paediatric patients and their families. Lucy shared “Susie Minson was one of the driving forces behind the idea and helped locate a resource from Southampton’s Children hospital, which inspired us to create something similar here at Barts”.
The leaflets have been well received across the children’s wards at The Royal London Hospital and have received praise on twitter from a number of staff members including Paediatric Advanced Clinical Practitioner Becky Platt, who commented “another fantastic initiative from our wonderful play team”.
The leaflets have now been distributed across the children’s A&E department and paediatric wards at The Royal London Hospital. They will be given to any children who are suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients or patients and their families who have questions or concerns about the current situation. The leaflets have also been sent for distribution at Whipps Cross Hospital and Newham Hospital across their paediatric departments. They have also been shared with other hospital play teams across the country.
If you would like a copy of the leaflet to share with your patients and their families, please email playteam.bartshealth@nhs.net for directions of how to print and access.
The play department hope that the new leaflet will alleviate some anxieties and increase children’s understanding during this challenging time.
