Child’s Play: Books to Help Children Cope with Hospital Matters

Even though it affects all of us, finding reliable healthcare information can often be really tricky. This is partly due to the fact that our scientific knowledge expands almost daily and also because healthcare information tends to be written in jargon.

In the National Health Service (NHS) libraries where I’ve spent over half of my working life, we have acronyms to spare — and sometimes when we’re asked for information, the first task is to work out what our enquirer is requesting. Senior specialists can forget that while we specialise in finding information, we aren’t usually specialists in their area — that’s where their medical knowledge comes in.

And if we find it difficult to understand what they need and what they’re trying to communicate, it must be even more tricky for patients — particularly when the patients are very young.

Although our library is a specialist service for grown-up students on placement and staff at the Health Trust, the hospital has a sizable paediatric department and many dedicated staff who specialise in treating children’s ailments. One of the priority areas for the hospital at present is paediatric diabetes, and as we go into a new financial year in the UK public sector, it’s become very apparent that our resources on this topic and other childhood conditions need drastic updating.

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While our library doesn’t have a section that under-sixteens can use, we do provide information for the clinical staff who support children, as well as their parents and guardians. As part of our service remit to do our best to support all the different groups in the community and our ongoing work towards helping develop health literacy, ensuring we have age-appropriate, easy-to-understand, and accessible information is vital.

The language used in healthcare leaflets and websites isn’t always especially easy to understand, even for adults. You can imagine, then, how tricky it can be to find texts that can explain complex topics and situations in language that children will understand. In some cases, information about childhood conditions comes in picture form:  graphic novels or animations. Sometimes, children’s characters are used to help young patients relate to situations. Clifford and Paddington, for instance, have both visited a hospital at some point as a patient, and there are even read-along videos on YouTube.

Clinical staff also often find themselves having to explain difficult conditions, procedures, and situations to children and their caregivers. Often, the books that allow healthcare professionals to explain conditions to younger patients are written by staff who work for or have a connection to charitable organisations, hospital charities, or NHS Trusts directly. Serious illness, bereavement, emotions, and life-changing conditions like cancer are all topics with highly recommended titles available.

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I recently had cause to visit a part of our hospital that is being revamped and extended, and was delighted to discover a corridor display that featured a picture book one of our own Accident and Emergency nurses published two years ago to help children understand organ donation and how even dark times can lead on to goodness and helping others. Now that I’m aware of it, we’ll make sure we have a copy in the library collection, and I’m on the lookout for other similar titles that can enhance our collection and make it more inclusive.

So far, I’ve discovered a treasure trove of titles and projects across the rest of the NHS, including a book authored by a London medical student following her placement experiences on the paediatrics ward and a couple of hospital mascots who star in their own books. Hatty the Hyena, who helps to explain asthma to children, and Occupational Therapy Mascot Bobby, designed to help children with sensory differences cope with hospital visits, are just two of the extra-special hospital helpers who have been spotted walking the corridors of hospitals in the North East of England.

I’m now hoping that we can expand our collection to include a selection of titles that can help both staff and, most importantly, patients at the Trust to have as comfortable a visit as possible. Meanwhile, I just may have to check out how Paddington coped when he found himself in hospital. . . .

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References

Bond, M. and Jankell, K. (2019). ‌Paddington Goes to Hospital. HarperCollins.

Books for Children. Ipswich Cancer Wellbeing & Information Centre. Available at: https://www.ipswichcancerinformation.co.uk/childrens-books.

Bridwell, N. (2000). Clifford Visits the Hospital. Cartwheel Books.

‌Hassan, A. (2020). Hatty Hyena book launched by GNCHF — Newcastle Hospitals Charity. Newcastle Hospitals Charity. https://charity.newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/news/hatty-hyena-book-launched-by-gnchf/

James, M. (2023). Freddie and the Magic Heart. Grosvenor House Publishing.

Medical student creates children’s book to soothe hospital fears. King’s College London News Centre, 5 December 2024. ‌https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/medical-student-creates-childrens-book-to-soothe-hospital-fears

Watson, L. (2024). Rock Legend lends his voice to new book for children with sensory differences — Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. https://www.newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/news/bobby-big-day-out/

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