Children's experiences of Hospital Care

What we heard

Across our activities, we identified:

• Adapting the décor, furniture and layout of healthcare settings, especially those used most frequently by children and young people, is important in making them feel relaxed and comfortable
• Providing activities and entertainment, or suggesting patients bring their own, is important in keeping children and young people occupied, especially where waits are likely
• Healthcare providers such as ESHT should regularly engage with patients and representative groups to hear their experiences and adapt their sites, information and systems accordingly

What we did

We undertook Enter and Views of the paediatric departments at the Conquest Hospital, Hastings and Eastbourne District General Hospital (EDGH) between September 2023 and October 2024 with members of our Young Healthwatch. At Conquest, this included the inpatients, outpatients and short stay units, while at the EDGH this included the outpatients unit and paediatric section of the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E).  

During these visits, Young Healthwatch Volunteers and Healthwatch staff undertook the ‘15 steps challenge’ to share their perspective on the department’s physical environment and its suitability for children and young people. Alongside this, staff and volunteers spoke to department staff and parents and carers about their views, experiences and any suggestions for improvement. 

To gather further insight into young patients’ perspective on their care, in April 2025 we held a focus group with 5 young people between the ages of 7-11 to hear their experiences of paediatric care and what they felt worked well and what could be improved. 

Our recommendations

We made recommendations following the completion of each stage of our work, and all of these can be found in the reports for each of the project phases (see links below). Key recommendations include: 

Conquest Hospital 2024

• Update the décor in the department to make it more appealing and appropriate for a wider age range. This could include a simple theme and colour palette which could be adapted for both older and younger children.
• Ensure that there are enough activities and entertainment options available for older children and teenagers, as well as younger children.
• Consider having more staff available in the department so that patients can be given the best possible care; this may include more clinical staff and/or a play therapist.

EDGH 2024

• Information should be visible in the waiting area about who the staff are and their different roles.
• The ward would benefit from better signage across the hospital to ensure that patients can easily find their way.
• Look at lowering the height of activity boards in the corridor to allow children and young people to interact with these independently.

Paediatric Focus group 2025

• Appointment letters should include suggestions about items that young people and parents are allowed to bring with them and might want to remember to bring for their own comfort and to ensure they have something to do, particularly when staying overnight.
• Consider developing age-appropriate information and guidance packs to provide to young people ahead of their appointment (if these are not already in place) so young people know what to expect.
• NHS Sussex should work with established youth groups/organisations to enable them to develop information for children and young people about hospitals that can be shared via schools, to reduce the fear factor around these settings.