GOSH staff reveal their thoughts on our new building

Posted by: Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity
9th July, 2012

We asked hospital staff to have their say about Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Morgan Stanley Clinical Building, the first part of the Mittal Children’s Medical Centre, which opened on June 14 2012.

Janet Holmes, Senior Play Specialist

“I’m the Senior Play Specialist working on the cardiac wards. It’s my job to make the environment as comfortable as possible for children.

“If you put a child in a place with no play facilities then they’re in an abnormal environment, so we try and make it familiar for them. We also use play for therapy, to help patients prepare for cardiac procedures and to distract them during the actual procedure, making it easier for both the child and medical team.

“On Bear Ward we now have not only our own playroom but also an adolescent room too and it’s fantastic. They’re so much brighter, spacious and in keeping with the rest of the ward.

“It’s my job to make people more comfortable and happy and the new building just made my job a lot easier!”

Dr Allan Goldman, Clinical Unit Chair for the Cardio Respiratory Service and Intensive Care Specialist

“On Flamingo Ward we care for patients with congenital heart disease who require surgery, patients who have had a transplant, children who require an artificial heart and lung support and children with airway problems.

“The facilities of Flamingo Ward are outstanding and a dramatic change from where we were. Before we moved we had 16 beds which were almost always full. On the new ward we have 21 beds, thereby increasing the number of children we can care for.

“The size of the bed space has also grown significantly. With modern artificial heart and lung support technology like ECMO and Berlin heart it was imperative that, in addition to increasing the number of beds, there was more space around each one.

“The new features of the ward really will make a difference to families and clinicians in the coming years. Having visited other international centres of excellence, I’m proud to say that the facilities on Flamingo Ward are easily as good as anything I have seen.”

Jilly Hale, Head of Theatre Nursing

“As the Head of Theatre Nursing I look after the standard of care of the children who come into the theatre. While the old theatres always contained the right equipment, the overall space was cramped.

“In addition to new cutting edge facilities, the new theatres have small features that will benefit patients. The most striking example being the patient journey to the operating theatres that has artwork on the walls known as the Nature Trail. Small lights switch on as the patients move along the corridor to reveal moving animals to distract them at what is a very stressful time.

“It’s this combination of state-of-the-art facilities combined with softer touches that really will make the new theatres one of the best suites around.”

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity is now focused on raising £45 million to complete the Mittal Children’s Medical Centre, which will see the redevelopment of the cardiac wing of the hospital. Find out more about the redevelopment.