A personal experience of art in hospitals

I had firsthand experience of the usefulness of art in hospitals this month, when my seven-year-old daughter went into the Bristol Eye Hospital for an operation. Having visited the Hospital regularly since she was two, each time being rewarded with chocolate buttons, she wasn’t daunted by the prospect of an operation. But she was terrified at the idea of an injection.

Her panic mounted and threatened to tip into full blown hysteria as the anaesthetist got the cannula ready. Without thinking, my husband turned to the wall murals in the anaesthetic room. “Look, how many different animals can you spot? Let’s play I Spy!” She quickly joined in. The cannula was quietly inserted while she counted monkeys and, within seconds, she was peacefully under. The nurses on Gloucester Ward were wonderful when she came round. Lunch and colouring pens were administered and, later that night, she declared that she ‘loved all of it, the whole day, everything about going into hospital.”

So, a big thank you to the staff member who painted the murals in the Bristol Eye Hospital. They saved the day. Jane Willis, Director