ward at Watford General Hospital
Creative nurses and patients have brought some much-needed festive cheer to their wards with their unusual ‘no cost’ decorations made from out-of-date products.
Highlights include a set of flying reindeers crafted out of cardboard bedpans guided by a Santa made from tissues, wool and toilet rolls, which hangs on the ceiling of Granger Ward at Watford General Hospital.
Not to be outdone, other wards have created Christmas trees made entirely out of test tubes (painted green); while others have gone for the latex gloves look.
Snowmen have been fashioned from plastic cups, or tissue and cardboard bedpans (a popular material this year), and even face masks have been turned into angels.
Nurses and patients have teamed up to compete across West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s four sites at Watford, Hemel Hempstead, St Albans and Jacketts Field to be crowned as having the best Christmas decorations.
The official rules state that staff can only use out-of-date products and no money can be spent on any materials. The idea for the creative Christmas challenge came from Chief Nurse Kelly McGovern to bring some fun to the wards and give patients an activity to focus on during their time in hospital.
“We’ve even had people coming in on their days off to work on the decorations, using everything from out-of-date cardboard bed pans and face masks to create their masterpieces.
“Patients have loved getting involved and showing off their efforts to family members.
“Christmas is a difficult time to be in hospital as a patient and little things like this can make a big difference in helping to put smiles on people faces and giving them something fun to do. The response from patients and their families to the decorations have been fantastic.
“Picking winners is difficult and bribes have been offered in the form of mince pies and chocolate to sway the judges.”