Our Hospital Programme

For children in hospital, books and stories are particularly important – they comfort, distract, reassure and entertain, while also supporting disrupted learning. Read for Good provides a regular supply of brand new books along with storyteller visits to brighten up the days of children in all of the UK’s main children’s hospitals.

Children unable to leave their beds can choose books from our specially designed mobile bookcase which wheels right up to their bedside. Because they are brand new, the books are safe for those at high risk of infection.

Our hospitals

England

Scotland

Wales

Northern Ireland

Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Belfast

Before the pandemic, our service reached an estimated 150,000 children in hospital every year. Whilst normal life has returned for most of us, the impact of the pandemic is still being felt in hospitals, with some wards still under tight restrictions. In many hospitals, children are still not able to share books because of infection control and in some hospitals, our storytellers are still visiting ‘virtually’. However, we continue to give over 27,000 books to children in hospitals across the UK each year – and often these books are more vital than ever as other services remain curtailed.

“The more comfortable our patients, the less anxious our visiting families. The less anxious our visiting families, the more time staff have to carry out other duties.

Happier children attending operating theatres will spend less time in the anaesthetic room and will then wake up relaxed in recovery.

Read for Good has a significant impact throughout the hospital and throughout a patient’s journey from admission to discharge.”

Emma Jarvis, Hospital Arts Coordinator, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital