Evelina London's heart team featured on BBC's One Show

Evelina London Children's Hospital mum and BBC One Show presenter, Samantha Baines, came back to visit the team who cared for her daughter, Nya, when she was critically ill.

The film on the BBC One Show, which is available to watch on BBC iPlayer, sheds light on the importance of increased awareness around congenital heart conditions, a problem with the heart that is there from birth. These conditions affect almost 1 in 100 babies born in the UK.

Samantha's daughter, Nya, was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition after she was born. She had open-heart surgery at just 10 weeks old at the specialist heart service at Evelina London. During her almost 3 months at Evelina London, Nya was cared for by multidisciplinary teams of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals on the intensive care ward, critical care ward, and Sky cardiac ward.

When talking about her stay in Evelina London, Sam said:

We felt very looked after at Evelina London and the staff really went above and beyond, not only to support our little girl, but also us during an incredibly difficult time.

Alongside the outstanding medical care at the hospital, Nya, Samantha and her partner also benefited from the holistic care that Evelina London provides. Sam was visited by ECHO's tea trolley on Mother's Day, a weekly event that offers sweet treats and gives parents, carers and patients time for tea or to talk. Nya also had sessions with Evelina London Children's Charity-funded music therapist, Hannah Hayes.

During her walk down memory lane, Sam met some familiar faces, including one of Nya's clinicians, Dr Ronel Talker, speciality registrar in paediatric cardiology. Dr Ronel Talker, said: "It was a privilege to care for Nya, and support her family through a difficult period. Despite being faced with many challenges at an early age, including open-heart surgery, she has done tremendously well.

The success of babies and children, such as Nya, is also a reflection of the hard-work and dedication of hundreds of colleagues across our vast multi-disciplinary team. I look forward to seeing her journey over the coming months and years.

Dylan's story

While on the ward, Sam met with an Evelina London family who had been in hospital for 3 months.

7-year-old Dylan from Sussex has William's syndrome, a genetic condition that can affect different parts of the body, including the heart. He has been a patient under Evelina London since he was 8 weeks old, and recently had an operation to enlarge his aorta, the main blood vessel in the body.

Dylan was having a music therapy session with music therapist, Hannah, when Sam visited.

Dylan's mum, Chantal, said:

Dylan lights up when he sees Hannah. He loves playing the guitar and looks forwards to his sessions each week.

Hannah Hayes, music therapist at Evelina London, said: "Often children who have a long hospital stay might be distressed, or cannot express how they feel verbally. Music therapy can help them to share their thoughts and feelings and make them feel more relaxed in the hospital setting, and for children like Dylan, help create a more positive hospital stay."

Evelina London Children's Charity, including the Khoo Teck Puat UK Foundation, played a big part in making Sky ward happen. The 18-bed state-of-the-art cardiac ward treats children and young people with heart conditions, making the most efficient use of the available space to care for more children. Here, children and young people can benefit from family-friendly spaces, and even make their bed space their own by decorating bespoke magnetic boards, to help them feel more connected to their lives outside hospital.

Life-long care

Evelina London provides care for children with heart conditions from before they are born, throughout childhood, and into their adult life. Our patients receive wraparound care from a multidisciplinary team including dieticians, speech and language therapists, and psychologists.

Evelina London provides hospital care and treatment at both our purpose-built children's hospital on the St Thomas' hospital site and at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals. We care for families in our local areas and provide an extensive range of specialist services for children with rare and complex conditions from all over the south east of England.

To find out more about congenital heart conditions and support for families, visit ECHO's website.