THE team at Nuffield Health Brighton Hospital have opened the doors to its new-look paediatric waiting room.

The room is located in its outpatient wing and has been re-designed by healthcare assistant Vanessa Pratt.

The waiting room now offers a welcoming space for young visitors to spend time with their families, ahead of their appointments.

Vanessa said: “This was such a lovely project to get involved with.

“It was a truly collaborative approach from within the hospital, as our patients, staff and consultants were all asked for input as to the look and feel of the room before I began my work on the murals.

“Once the feedback was taken into consideration and the ‘Brighton’ theme was decided upon, I was given free rein on the actual design.

“It was such a therapeutic process and I’m so pleased to have been involved with it.

“I really hope it makes a difference to the experience of the children and young people that visit us.”

The room, which now features murals of Brighton Pier and also Nuffield Health’s very own mascot ‘Nuffy Bear’, includes a range of new colourful books, toys and activities for its visitors to play with.

Matron Michelle Neal said: “As a hospital, we wanted to create a waiting room that will help to make the children and teenagers that visit us feel as relaxed as possible.

“Hospitals can be intimidating places for adults, let alone children, so our new space hopefully provides them with a fun area to play in before their appointment.

“It was really important for us to involve our patients and also the team here at the hospital with the opportunity to help with the revamp process.

“Our HCA Vanessa did a fantastic job of taking on everyone’s feedback to include in her paintings.

“She’s clearly a lady of many talents!”

Paediatric Medicine includes the treatment of children and teenagers.

Nuffield Health is a not-for-profit UK healthcare organisations, looking after people for more than 60 years.

It runs a network of hospitals, medical clinics, fitness and wellbeing clubs and diagnostic units across the UK.

It also supports businesses in looking after their employees by operating their fitness and wellbeing facilities services.

Through experts, it links its sites and services up to offer connected healthcare provision, including nutritional therapy, emotional wellbeing and occupational health.