Two Bath nurses who have dedicated their free time to decorate the Children’s waiting area in the Emergency Department at the Royal United Hospital have been praised by the Chief Executive and colleagues.
Bright, colourful animals and fun characters painted by Staff nurses Victoria Marshall and Samantha Coolbear captivate and entertain young children while they wait during assessment in the hospital’s Emergency Department.
Caroline Jolley, Sister at the Emergency Department said: “They have done an amazing job, brightening this waiting area up. To show our appreciation and recognise what they’ve done, we arranged to have a plaque put up in the waiting room bearing their names.
“It was brilliant to see their faces as it was unveiled by our Chief Executive, James Scott today.
James Scott, Chief Executive, said: “Every day I am taken aback by the incredible work undertaken by staff to make a difference for our patients, especially the work where they have gone above and beyond their duties.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Victoria and Samantha for sparing their free time to do this for our Emergency Department.”
Caroline continued: “It can obviously be a difficult time for children and their families when they are waiting for assessment, so to have these lovely murals to keep their minds occupied is fantastic.
“Victoria and Samantha have also been very clever by painting little yellow ducks around the murals so we can ask the child to search and count how many ducks there are on the wall whilst we assess their eyesight, co-ordination, responses, movements and alertness.”
Local businesses in Bath also helped Victoria Marshall and Samantha Coolbear with the murals by donating tins of paint for the nurses to use.
After the plaque was unveiled, Victoria Marshall said: “We both loved painting these murals and I feel quite sad that it’s all over.”
Samantha added: “When we were working on the murals we could hear children in the area talking about our paintings.
“It was really satisfying to see them being occupied by looking at them, which was one of our aims as well as brightening the area up.”