We are thrilled to announce our funding of a brand new Play Specialist role for Radiology at the Oxford Children’s Hospital, to support more young patients having important scans like MRI’s, while still awake.

Sonia, who is a Senior Play Specialist, has been appointed for the role for two years, and will use her skills to help a huge number of children avoid the need for general anaesthetic when having MRI scans, allowing them to  get home much more quickly.

Some young patients – like those with spinal and brain injuries and certain cancers, have a lot of MRI’s  – so avoiding the need for a general anaesthetic makes a huge difference. Sonia will also be helping young patients having Urodynamics, Fluoroscopy and Renal scans.

Funding for this new role has all come from Oxford Hospitals Charity, much of it from our annual OX5 RUN that took place earlier this year.

So if you were one of our five mile runners in March – look what you have helped to achieve!

Senior Play Specialist Sonia Dugmore said: "This post was developed during the pandemic when our capacity for anaesthetics was significantly reduced, so we set up set up a programme using the skills of a play specialist to try to to increase the number of young patients having an MRI while still awake.

‘It was such a success that we wanted to continue this work, and applied to the charity for funding to help. 

Thanks to their support many young patients undergoing MRI’s and other important diagnostic scans, will now have specialist support during their procedures. I am so excited about the difference this will make for these youngsters across the Radiology departments at the Children’s Hospital and would like to thank all the charity supporters who helped make this happen.’

The play specialists in our hospitals have such an important role – coaxing giggles from a baby in pain, distracting toddlers during difficult procedures, and calming teens afraid of what lies ahead.

They are simply invaluable, and the Oxford Hospitals Charity team is so proud to be able to support them through our of funding for toys, tech, and play areas – and now by funding this new role for two years.

So we share our thanks with each and every one of you who helped make this possible – you really are amazing!

If you’d like to support more really important advances like this in our hospitals make a donation today or get in touch with the team to find out how donation, fundraising and gifts in Wills make such a difference. Call 01865 743 444 or email [email protected] 

Help make a difference to thousands of Oxfordshire families by making a donation to the Oxford Children's Hospital today: