Parents are invited to help design better child healthcare, explore virtual rehab games and register for baby first aid classes at a White City event.

The event ‘How do you help your unwell child?’ takes place on Wednesday 23 May at the White City Community Centre and is organised by Connecting Care for Children (CC4C) and the Imperial College Centre for Engagement and Simulation Science (ICCESS).  The event is aimed at parents in the White City and surrounding communities to find out how the CC4C team, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT), can better support families who use healthcare services in the area.

The event will feature a sequential simulation of the journey a mother makes through the healthcare system when her child becomes ill. The simulation, organised by the ICCESS team, involves re-enacting key points in a patient’s journey, with clinicians from ICHT performing the roles they do at work and actors playing the roles of patients or family members.

This will provide a starting point for discussions amongst parents in the audience about how useful they find different health services.

The project team at CC4C plan to follow up later in the year to share the results of the event with participating parents.

Shaping healthcare services

Duncan Boak, Manager of the ICCESS, said:

We will showcase how the College and the Trust are working together to find solutions to some of the challenges parents and their children face during their healthcare journey. Duncan Boak Manager of the ICCESS

"The event provides a great opportunity for families in the White City and surrounding areas to have a say on how the healthcare system can best support them and their children.  At the event we will showcase how the College and the Trust are working together to find solutions to some of the challenges parents and their children face during their healthcare journey."

Parents will also have the opportunity to design their own ideal healthcare system and talk to doctors from St Mary’s and Hammersmith Hospitals, part of ICHT, about any child health concerns or questions they have.  They will also be able to register for free baby resuscitation classes.

Boak added:  "We want parents to leave better informed about services provided by the NHS and community organisations to help support the health of their children.  I hope families are encouraged to attend and participate in this special event."

Exergames

Parents at the event will also have the opportunity to explore and learn more about Exergames - exercising through gaming for paediatric physiotherapy.

The Mira Exergames system uses state-of-the-art movement sensing technology to enable a more efficient delivery of physiotherapy and rehabilitation services.  The games help patients perform the right exercises, tracks how effectively they are doing them and gives them incentives to progress.  Researchers from ICCESS are working with MIRA Rehab to develop and validate their Exergames in partnership with the Paediatric Physiotherapy Units at St Mary’s and Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals.

The event is an example of the work carried out by ICCESS’ St Mary’s Patient Experience Hub, which is focused on using medical simulation to improve the experience of patients and families at St Mary’s Hospital.  The project is funded by Imperial Health Charity.

Register for the event via the eventbrite site.