Teddy delivery is paw-fect surprise for patients | News

Young patients in our Paediatric Emergency Department were treated to an ‘unfurr-getable’ surprise visit from the Teddies for Loving (TLC) Care crew on Monday.

Steve Butwell, Chairman of TLC Surrey and Nick Dyer, Deputy Chairman, dropped in with a large donation of cute and colourful bears for our youngsters in ED.

Talei Yabia, Senior Sister for Paediatric ED, said: “These beautiful teddies make a huge difference when young children come into our department feeling nervous and unwell. It can be very scary visiting a hospital ED, so it’s great for us to be able to hand over a soft comforting teddy and say, ‘you’ve been so brave, look we’ve got a lovely surprise for you!’”

Steve, who has been delivering the bears fortnightly to Royal Surrey for the last three years, said: “The TLC teddies are really popular with children and helpful for staff who can use them to distract distressed young patients or they can demonstrate a simple procedure using the teddies.”

The Teddies for Loving Care, run by Freemasons, was set up in 2001 and since then has provided over 3.5million teddies to comfort youngsters visiting hospitals in England and Wales. 

From left to right: Talei Yabia, Beth Jackson, Steve Butwell and Nick Dyer.