WEATHER CURTAILS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL PLAY SERVICES

Play activities in hospitals throughout Ireland have been severely hampered as a result of the weather conditions throughout the country.

Children in Hospital Ireland has expressed concern about the delivery of play and support services to hundreds of children in hospitals throughout Ireland, as its volunteers have reported great difficulty in travelling to hospitals. The charity’s trained and vetted PlayWell volunteers organise games and fun activities in children’s wards and units throughout the country and provide more than 40,000 hours of play each year.

“Our services throughout the country have been curtailed because of concerns for the health and safety of our volunteers,” Claire Connaughton, CHI volunteer services manager explained. “Volunteers throughout the country are having great difficulty in travelling to hospitals, and many have been advised not to make difficult journeys. Unfortunately, this means hundred of children are not being provided with the same level of play and activity in our hospitals. Providing children with such support is crucial for their wellbeing during, what can be, an extremely difficult time in their life. We hope our volunteer services are back to normal once we see an improvement in the weather.”

The curtailment follows similar problems in recent months accessing hospitals because of the Swine Flu outbreak.