CHILDREN'S hospitals across the country are putting on extra clinics today (March 5) as part of an NHS ‘Super Saturday’ drive to address Covid backlogs.
Staff are putting on hundreds of appointments as part of the ambitious NHS accelerator programme.
Some hospitals taking part will use virtual reality to distract youngsters during surgery, avoiding the need for more powerful anaesthetics and LEGO play techniques to help families explain any barriers to attending appointments and come up with solutions.
The drive is part of the National Paediatric Accelerator Programme, designed to bring together NHS trusts to address waiting lists that inevitably built up during the Covid pandemic.
The first Super Saturday took place in October last year, as part of a programme that has helped the children’s hospitals involved in the paediatric accelerator see tens of thousands of patients above pre-pandemic levels.
During Super Saturday some children undergoing minor surgery at Leeds Children’s Hospital will get to experience Virtual Reality Distraction Therapy (VRDT), which will see specialists accompany them into theatre to use cutting-edge VR equipment to help transport them to a different world, reducing anxiety, providing distraction and removing the need for a more disruptive general anaesthetic.
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