Royal Manchester Children's Hospital - Clown Doctors (10-042)

Theodora Children’s Trust is an international charity that works in children’s hospitals across the world providing entertainment to children. Their groundbreaking “Clown Doctor” programme operates in eight countries, visiting over 259,000 children in 120 hospitals every year.

MedEquip4Kids has been funding the work of Theodora Children’s Trust for five years, to provide a specially trained “Clown Doctor” to cover Booth Hall and Pendlebury Hospitals prior to their closure. This innovative and hugely popular work was first introduced at Great Ormond Street Hospital ten years ago, and has now moved to the new Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

The clowns are trained to work alongside hospital staff to spend time every week with children in hospital. They work one to one and in small groups, and for the young patients the clown’s weekly visit offers a welcome respite from the medical routine of their hospital stay.  

Depending on the needs and age of the child, the clown may sit and speak to the child, encourage activities or present balloons, or perform entertainments for a small group of children. The beneficial effect of laughter is hugely important for a child’s recovery. 

We have agreed to fully fund one clown for the year at the new Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital in Central Manchester. It will cost £9,503 in 2011 to fund the weekly visits, and all the equipment needed for the year.

UPDATE: We fully funded the clown doctor project and completed the fundraising in March 2012