Meeting and making friends

Meeting and making friends

Being in hospital can feel a bit lonely, but Evelina London is full of children just like you. You could make new friends, and it’s really easy to stay in touch with friends from home too.

Here are some of our patients talking about the best way to make friends in hospital:

Making new friends

There are lots of places to meet other children at Evelina London Children's Hospital:

  • on the ward: you will be with other children like you. There are play areas on the ward with games and toys to share
  • while you wait for your appointment: you could meet someone playing on the slide or with the toys and games
  • at the café or juice bar
  • at the Evelina Scouts and Guides
  • at the hospital school.

You might meet someone with the same condition as you. You could talk to each other about how you feel or just play together.

The nurse on your ward can tell you about any groups of children who meet to:

  • do fun activities together
  • talk about how they feel. 

Friends from home

When you are at Evelina London, it’s really easy to stay in touch with friends from home.

They can come to visit you during your stay. Friends and family can visit until 8pm every evening.

You can bring a smart phone, tablet or laptop to hospital to help you keep in touch. Don’t forget to bring a charger too. 

There’s free WiFi at Evelina London. Ask a nurse to help you get online.

Please tell a nurse on your ward if you bring a phone, tablet or laptop with you. They can help you to keep it in a safe place.

Guides and Scouts

Our Guide and Scout group meets:

  • every Monday
  • 6.15pm to 7.15pm
  • Level 3 – Beach, in the atrium.

Everyone is welcome, aged 6 to 18. You can even bring your brother or sister along too.

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to Guides or Scouts before. You can come along and join in the fun.

At each meeting, we will do lots of great activities. You will earn a badge for each meeting you come to.

If you have fun and want to carry on when you leave hospital, we can put you in touch with your local Guide or Scout group.