The shared playroom between Dolphin and Penguin Ward at Bristol Children’s Hospital has been refurbished for the first time since the hospital opened in 2001.

Thanks to your amazing donations, the playroom is now fit for purpose and welcoming to all ages. It provides a broader selection of activities and is a playroom the children “love to spend time in”.

Many of the patients treated on Dolphin and Penguin Ward are not well enough to access the large playroom on level 5 of Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, so having the ward-based playroom is really important.

Zoe Trotman, the Ward Sister for Dolphin Ward, said: “Play and the other activities are essential in helping children cope with being in hospital and improve their recovery. It provides distraction, something fun, and something normal they can associate with that’s not going to hurt or make them sad. It allows them to mix with other children and this helps to build relationships particularly for longer term patients.

The environment is now fit for purpose and welcoming to all ages. There are a broader range of activities and it’s now a space children love to spend time in.

The new playroom covers 40 inpatients and is used for arts and crafts, sensory play, preparation for procedures (distraction), as well as a relaxing area for older patients in the evenings. It is accessible to patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Make a donation and you can help us create healing environments to help patients take a breath away from hospital life.