Emergency art wins awards

Manga character artwork in the emergency department. Photo by Louis-Jack Horton-Stephens

Evelina London has been recognised for transforming patient care by winning awards at the Building Better Healthcare Awards.

The annual Building Better Healthcare Awards celebrates the innovation, architecture, people, products and services that are helping to transform patient care across the country.

The arts programme within Evelina London’s children's emergency department won in two categories:

• Best Healthcare app
• Patient’s choice

The programme was set up to engage children in their surroundings and help them feel oriented and calm. Thanks to funding from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, teams at Evelina London were able to work with art coordinators, Art in Site, to develop a “gang” of illustrated patients, staff, and families, which was generated in partnership with children, their families and clinicians. Japanese manga artist, Kiriko Kubo, helped to develop the characters who also act as friendly guides around the main site of the hospital.

The gang also come to life in an interactive app, playable on site, which helps to demystify the emergency process through interactive animations explaining clinical procedures, including blood tests, injections, and pulse measurements.

The judges said: “This is absolutely outstanding. In terms of an app, this is by far the best we have seen. It shows clearly what children can expect and has had a measurable impact on services and the patient experience. It’s a great idea.”

Dr John Criddle, Consultant in Children’s Emergency Medicine at Evelina London, said: “Visiting the emergency department can be stressful for children and their families so this art project and the app were great opportunities for us to help to create a more relaxed and fun environment for them. We’re delighted that this important piece of work has been celebrated on a national level.”

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust also picked up five awards for the state-of-the-art Cancer Centre at Guy’s Hospital.