The Paediatric Burns Service at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital is an inpatient ward and aftercare clinic for children and young people needing treatment for burns. Care is provided by a multi-disciplinary team of doctors, nurses, therapists, psychologists, play specialists, family support and education services with approximately 500 people using in-patient care and thousands attending the aftercare clinic each year.

Staff were keen to enhance patient experience through use of artwork to aid distraction and promote a feeling of calm and wonder. They wanted to make this high-tech and busy clinical department a welcoming, child-friendly place.

The design concept ‘Magical Worlds’ encourages a sense of discovery and exploration and was inspired through consultation with 120 young people and their families who participated in creative workshops and drop-in sessions with Lime lead artists Dawn Prescott and Helen Kitchen. The artists also consulted with over 45 members of the Burns Service’s multi-disciplinary team during the creative process which directly informed the design outcomes. Illustrative wall and ceiling mounted artworks engage and support children and young people by encouraging a sense of play. A collection of colour changing  interactive lightboxes located in treatment rooms aid guided visual imagery and story telling techniques used by the Burns Service clinical staff and psychologists during often lengthy treatments.