What the Hospitals Say

Feedback from Hospital Play Specialists tells us how Pod visits transform the day for their young patients.

Play Specialist, Basingstoke, North Hampshire Hospitals

Malcolm's visits make a big difference.

Malcolm's visits make a big difference to the children making them smile and giggle even on a difficult day. Older patients are always amazed by the tricks and try and work how the magic works. Malcolm is amazing with the younger patients; a balloon model always brings a smile especially if they have had a challenging day.

Distracting a child with something positive and different, totally takes their mind of their treatment and how they are feeling.

Even older patients who sometimes say no to an individual magic trick will often sit up and watch the patient in the opposite bed and end up joining in. Being able to look forward to a visit when they have been in for a while or frequently visit, makes such a difference and you can see their faces when he arrives and this in turn makes them feel better sometimes for the rest of the day.

Play Specialist, Great North Children's Hospital

You know when Graeme is on the ward when you hear the laughter all around!

You know when Graeme is on the ward when you hear the laughter all around! Working on the Oncology Ward can at times be distressing and traumatising for the children having their treatment and a little bit of laughter goes a long way!

A 3-year-old boy has been on the ward for about 6 months for this initial admission. He and his Mum look forward to Graeme's visits to the ward. Like a lot of the children, he suffers with separation anxiety and to not even have noticed when his Mum left the room, it's amazing!

Another little one; well, she's 8 was in for her second round of chemotherapy. She was obviously still very nervous of procedures which she has to regularly endure and can get a bit distressed. However, being able to experience Pod for the first time really made her smile and made the procedure that bit easier.

When Graeme makes the kids smile, he makes their whole family smile! He has something for everybody up his sleeve and he can make a balloon dog, or a dog in a giraffe fancy dress! And everybody loves Derrick (Graeme's puppet). Graeme's visits to the ward are greatly appreciated by patients, families and staff alike. He helps support us to support them cope with their stay by bringing happiness, fun and laughter to the ward.

After all, “Laughter Makes the World Go Round!!” Thanks Graeme, keep being great!!

Gordon performing at Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Play Specialist, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich

A massive thank you to everyone that contributes to the continuation of our magical mornings.

Gordon is so good at delivering shows to children of all ages and stages of development. He includes all family members, and we move from the playroom into side rooms effortlessly with a continuation of humour and will even stop and do a quick trick for staff (not that they are tricks - they are real magic, I know this because several children have told me).

We are a ward with many diverse illnesses and conditions. We have a general ward, our oncology ward and a HDU unit and having a morning of laughter and amazement has immeasurable benefits.

We have sessions where the playroom is full of patients and sessions where smaller shows are in several rooms one at a time. And sometimes sessions where the whole show is with one child. All of these days are equally fabulous - one child who is sad due to many stays in hospital and difficult interventions or several children who are not used to hospitals and are struggling to manage their fear.

The combined efforts of the play specialist and a magician makes the day memorable and the next visit less stressful. As a play specialist I can say that I am thrilled with any event that makes the ward so much more fun as there is no substitute for laughter and happiness, and we have never had a silent room when Gordon is with us.

Play Specialist, Royal Preston Hospital

The Pod visits by Barrington are very important to us.

The Pod visits by Barrington are very important to us at Royal Preston Hospital. Our patients benefit greatly from having something to distract them from being in hospital. Our regular patients will ask to see if they have timed it right to see Barrington visit.

Barrington sometimes helps nursing staff build up trust with patients that find it difficult to express their feelings or find it hard to communicate with people not familiar to them. When we get our monthly visit, it lifts the atmosphere on the ward children smiling and laughing. Parents smiling because their child are happier and parents love seeing their child smiling - this might be for the first time since they were admitted to the ward.

Staff love Barrington's visit too - seeing their patients smiling and laughing. Barrington gets nursing staff involved with his magic tricks which helps nursing staff build up good relationships with their patients as a fun side to caring for them rather than always doing medical procedures. Barrington is very good at getting our more challenging teenagers onside and has helped them calm down and relax even gets some to laugh and join in with the magic tricks.

One event that comes to mind is when we couldn't go around the ward, so Barrington did a show down in the waiting room. There was a very mix age group of children and adults. There was so much laughter and noise the ward manager came to see what was going on and Barrington managed to get her involved which was great fun. The show end with a balloon race which everyone joined in - children, parents and staff. The day after children that were admitted to the ward were still talking about the magic show and of course the famous balloon race.

Parents said it help greatly with the waiting time to be seen which on that day was quite a long time. Even a couple of months later a regular patient came into the ward and was talking about the magic show / balloon race and was still laughing about it.

Play Specialist, Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley

There really aren't enough words to explain just how vital our visits from Pod are.

There really aren't enough words to explain just how vital our visits from Pod are. Our hospital is not in a wealthy area, many of our children have never seen a magician or had the luxury of seeing close-up magic or indeed having beautiful balloons made for them.

It makes them smile, laugh, feel inclusive but most of all forget their worries for a short time and means the absolute world to these children. It's so lovely for parents too because very often they feel very stressed and pressured and the benefit they get from these visits is palpable.

The visits have so many benefits. If we know that children are very anxious about forthcoming procedures such as bloods or surgery or scans, we can ensure that we time a visit just prior to their treatment and it has remarkable effects by completely taking their mind off what's to come.

Over the years I've seen many children going off to theatre smiling and carrying their very special hand-made balloon. It's a fantastic method of distraction for these children. I think that thanks to Pod we can turn a visit into hospital from a scary, anxious experience to a positive and fun experience.

In fact, we have had children who have returned for future visits and asked if the magic man will be coming again. They have remembered for often long periods of time because the experience has made such a positive impact on their wellbeing and feelings about the hospital environment. Hospitals can be fun, and a great deal of that mindset can be contributed through the success of Pod visits.

Play Specialist, Southampton University Hospital

The visits from Pod make such a difference to the children, their smiles when they leave says it all.

It is difficult to put into words just how important having visits from outside entertainers is for our patients and families, but the difference it makes to not just the patient, but to parents, siblings, and carers too is huge.

Often siblings can find coming into visit their brother or sister very daunting, so to be able to attend a show like this helps make hospital visits less scary for them and the whole family feel like they are doing something nice together which creates positive memories during sometimes very difficult journeys.

I have watched children's confidence grow each time they come out and initially they are a bit shy to participate but the kind gentle nature of Charlie and Nikki really encourages them. In one patient's case, he took to the floor to demonstrate his own trick to the audience and the magicians and tell his own jokes, which was truly a magical moment.

The visits from Pod make such a difference to the children, their smiles when they leave says it all.

Play Specialist, Stoke Mandeville Hospital

If I could bottle their reaction and sell it, I think I could retire now!

We are extremely lucky to have Colonel Custard visit. I tend not to tell the children that he is coming until he arrives as I want to see the surprise and pleasure on their faces when he enters the bay or room and believe me it is priceless! If I could bottle their reaction and sell it, I think I could retire now!

His smile and presence light up the space and the children and their parents get extremely excited when he comes in. We have patients who come in for day surgery and patients who sometimes spend days or weeks or months here. Some of them come in for a few hours and some are spending some of the last of their days here and Colonel Custard treats every one of them with respect and kindness.

He gets even the teenagers who are glued to their phones, to interact with him. They are dumbfounded and amazed by his magic tricks. He does tricks with phones, pens, Wikipedia, and these ropes that he calls Mummy, Daddy and Baby yet they all end up the same size. How does that happen?

His balloons are amazing, and he keeps learning new animals all the time. When he asked one boy what his favourite animal was, and he said an Emu, I fell about laughing and I thought that this would be another one I could put on my list of the ones he couldn't do. Oh no, he practically made a life size version of an Emu, and the boy laid it beside him in his bed. It was hilarious but the boy and his dad were really impressed as were the rest of the patients in the bay. I would have liked to have seen how he managed to get it in the car as he was being discharged later in the day.

Help us bring laughter to more hospitals

Every donation becomes a smile.

Pod's administration is paid for by an entirely separate charity - every penny you give is spent on entertaining children in hospital.

Donate to Pod List of Hospitals