Our projects on the Caroline Thorpe children’s ward

We fund ‘extras’ at the children’s ward at North Devon District Hospital, to help make life a little more bearable for patients and their families spending time on the ward.

To date, we’ve refurbished four individual cubicle bedrooms, the play room, parent’s room, provided a 3D pain distraction unit and lots more!

Our latest project is a £19,000 transformation of ‘cubicle 2’, an individual bedroom on the ward. We have replaced the tired magnolia walls with beautiful bright sunflowers, bespoke paneling, a new TV, blinds and comfy chair-bed for parents to stay over night. Every aspect of the room has to meet the strict specifications of the hospital. This is the fourth cubicle we have transformed in the last six years.

Gallery of our projects

Thanks to the funds raised, Care for Kids North Devon were able to replace the blinds on the Caroline Thorpe Ward windows, with new custom made blinds, designed with a cloud pattern to match with the rooms design theme! We are all very happy with the results!

One of our latest projects, to replace the sofa in the playroom on the Caroline Thorpe Ward has been a success! Thanks to donations and fundraisers we are able to finance ‘extras’ on the ward, which helps make life a little more bearable for patients and their families spending a length of time on the Ward. The sofa’s look brilliant – on to the next project (re-vamping the Parents room) we go!

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The Charity working with Eaton Aerospace in South Molton are pleased to secure the purchase of a 3D Pain Distraction Unit for the Treatment Room of the Ward.

It has helped reduce anxiety of the children when having treatments such as injections and blood tests and makes it easier and safer for the staff to have a calmer patient.

Since the relocation of the Children’s Ward to the Ladywell  building of the North Devon District Hospital, Care for Kids has agreed to provide a large, purpose-built cupboard to house the television and provide much needed storage for the Ward’s games; puzzles, art materials etc. The cupboard has become a design feature for the Playroom (Pictures below). Many thanks to Watts Designs for their support, skill, expertise in working with us to achieve this amazing playroom. Thank you to all our supporters, we couldn’t have achieved this without you!

Care for Kids has provided Christmas meals for parents, Christmas Gifts, Christmas tree, Pantomime trips, ice-creams and other festive items to make a child’s Christmas on the Ward a little merrier.

The Children’s Ward of the North Devon District Hospital covers the demographic area from Bude up to Exmoor and over to Hatherleigh; a very large catchment area. The Northern Devon healthcare region encompasses 35,000 children aged 16 years or below. The North Devon District Hospital serves all of the children in the region. Any extras’ provided to the Caroline Thorpe Ward will be very well utilised by an exceptionally large catchment area of children. The Ward is named after the late Caroline Thorpe, wife of former Liberal MP, Jeremy Thorpe.

Each child is under the care of a Consultant. The Consultants work with teams of doctors who deal with most of the day to day treatments. Physiotherapists, the dietitian and other specialists also visit the Ward when needed.

All nursing care on the ward is overseen by a Children’s Nurse. The nursing staff are overseen by the Ward Sister. The nursing staff will provide information about life on the Ward to assist all patients and parents. This advice will cover, for example; what to and what not to bring onto the ward, details of the Clinical Team, Ward Rounds, Pain Relief, Visiting times and considerations, parent breaks from the Ward, details of meals and refreshment facilities, Patient Post, the Playroom, Spiritual Care, School on the Ward and planning for going home.