GOSH Charity Patient and Family Experience Strategy 2025-2030

The strategy has four key objectives: to provide a "home away from home" for patients and families; to provide fun and relief for patients; to help families to cope; and to treat every patient as a whole person.

We'll use research and innovation, people and partnerships to help us to deliver these objectives - while keeping equity, inclusivity and patient and family involvement at the heart of everything we do.

We want to make coming to hospital easier for families and create a space that is warm, welcoming and child-friendly. We know hospitals can be noisy and stressful, especially for children, so our aim is to bring a sense of peace and comfort, helping families feel more at home and less overwhelmed during their child's stay.

We will:

• Improve food options, making them more affordable, more accessible, and better suited to families spending long days, or even weeks, in hospital.
• Create non-clinical spaces that are welcoming and homely, places where families can take a breath, relax, or just be together outside of a medical setting.
• Expand access to outdoor spaces, especially those that are safe and inclusive for clinically vulnerable children.

Spending time in hospital can take children away from the everyday joys of childhood. Younger children may struggle to play as spontaneously as they would at home, while older children often miss out on opportunities to socialise and have fun with their friends. We want to provide patients and families at GOSH with more opportunities to experience moments of fun and laughter.

We will:

• Provide more opportunities for entertainment throughout the hospital, alleviating boredom on wards and in waiting rooms.
• Enhance opportunities for children and young people to enjoy gaming in hospital, to provide joy and a sense of connection during their stay.
• Create more playful spaces at GOSH and improve access to therapeutic play for all patients, including on evenings and weekends.
• Improve access to therapeutic services for children and young people, and their families, such as music therapy.

Having a seriously ill child can affect the wellbeing of the whole family. Patients and families at GOSH often face deep emotional challenges that touch upon every part of their lives and can make coping very difficult. Beyond the emotional impact, many families face financial pressures, such as travel expenses and time away from work, when caring for a sick child.

We will:

• Support the mental wellbeing of parents and carers while their child is in hospital.
• Provide more opportunities for families to connect with others in a similar situation to their own.
• Scope opportunities to alleviate the financial pressure of being in hospital as much as possible, to relieve additional stress on families.

Children and young people in hospital often miss out on important milestones and everyday activities that they would otherwise be having at school, at clubs, or with friends. Our aim is to support each patient’s unique interests, so they can stay involved in their hobbies and explore new interests while in hospital. We want to give children and young people the confidence to feel empowered to advocate for themselves, and be actively involved in their own care.

We will:

• Increase our investment in the care of teenagers and young people by providing opportunities for them to socialise, develop and connect with the outside world.
• Provide all children and young people with opportunities to be artistic and creative, including those that experience challenges to self-expression (i.e., patients with learning difficulties or those who are immunocompromised).
• Invest in initiatives that empower patients to advocate for themselves, helping them to feel like an active participant in their care team.

To find out more, please read the full version of our 2025-2030 Patient and Family Experience Strategy.

For more information, please email our grants team, or read about our funding schemes.