Staying in hospital can be a stressful and anxious time for families. By offering parents a calm and comforting space to relax away from the ward, we can help them support their child during their time in hospital.

Thanks to a grant donation from True Colours Trust two Parent Rooms have been improved on Ward 1 and 5. Ward 5 has received the most prominent works with a new entryway, comfy sofas, white goods, crockery, and a complete refresh featuring relaxing new artwork. Ward 1 now has an extended recess which has created a separate kitchen area for parents to store and prepare hot food and drinks. The Artfelt team transformed the rooms into warm and welcoming places for parents to have a little time away from the wards to prepare hot drinks, meals and relax.

Having previously worked on the hospital’s ensuite bedrooms, we were delighted to collaborate with leading place maker Morag Myerscough again to create a riot of colour for the Main Entrance at Sheffield Children’s. 

Morag was commissioned to enhance the status of the entrance and provide a welcoming, playful experience for patients visiting our Western Bank site. It looks glorious in the sun. 

Working with acclaimed designer Morag Myerscough, we devised four colourways - from bright to calm - across all 46 en suite bedrooms and a different scheme for the multi occupancy bays in the hospital's newest wing.

This project was 2 years in the making and involved some technical challenges - using standard hospital materials in a new way - but we believe the rooms make a real difference to the experience of being in hospital.

“Although the rooms are for children I didn’t want them to be childish because children of all different age groups will be staying in them,” said Morag. “I also wanted to create somewhere parents would be happy to spend time too. It was just about making a bedroom that you felt good to be in.”

The project is part of numerous fresh commissions we provided for the hospital's biggest ever re-development. 

Photos: Jill Tate

Jon Burgerman is a UK born, NYC based artist instigating improvisation and play through drawing and spectacle. He is a purveyor of doodles and is often credited and referenced as the leading figure in the popular 'Doodle' art style.

He created a weird and wonderful wall of fun for the Plaster Room in our New Wing, ensuring lots for patients to see as they have their plaster casts fitted. We even hear the staff have chosen their favourite characters which look like them!

The project is part of numerous fresh commissions we provided for the hospital's biggest ever re-development. 

Photos: Jill Tate

Artfelt brought impact and colour to the Treatment and Blood Test rooms in our New Wing thanks to Andy J Miller.

Andy was born in born in Indianan and now works as a commercial artists in Columbus, OH. He created graphic characters to provide impact and distraction for patients as they undergo procedures. The project is part of numerous fresh commissions we provided for the hospital's biggest ever re-development.

Photos: Jill Tate

This corridor on B Floor of the hospital links the X-Ray Department to the Restaurant. Formerly the home of The Long Gallery, it used to lead to the Outpatient Department. Following the relocation of Outpatients, The Long Gallery also moved into the hospital’s new wing.

Whilst now a quieter space, this long corridor still deserved interest and colour for visitors on their way around the building. We commissioned Jon Burgerman, famed for his doodle-style, to provide original pieces and limited edition prints that line the route between these key areas. 

Photos: Jill Tate

As part of its ongoing commitment to improve public spaces at the hospital, Artfelt installed a large commission in the staircase leading from the Eye Department to Treetop House.

The series of brightly coloured pieces were created by artist Louise Lockhart around the topic of playtime and toys and include a trio of images creating a large park scene.

Famed for her playful style, Louise creates her designs by drawing, printing, cutting and finding collage material and textures, then compiles them using a computer. She has worked for clients including Mini Boden, The Independent and Donna Wilson.

Photos: Jill Tate

The Clinical Genetics Department is based in the hospital’s Outpatient Department at The Northern General. The team see adults and families affected by genetic conditions, including provision of a genetic counselling service. 

We worked with Australian couple Inaluxe to provide bright floral prints suitable for all the family, no matter what age, in their three consulting rooms.

Our Neurophysio rooms see children for Electroencephalographs - tests which record the electrical impulses that the brain produces whilst sending and receiving messages to and from the body.

We worked with designer Studio Binky to produce interesting, but calming pieces for each room, that are uplifting and allow children to be distracted whilst undergoing the treatment.

Using a combination of framed prints and cut vinyl, Studio Binky used the theme of the outdoors to create imagery linked to Sheffield parks and animals. Patients can now look at characters playing in one of our famous parks or enjoying a day out at the local farm. Created in soothing tones, the familiarity of the locations helps calm patients using the service in our newly decorated rooms.

Our Medical Daycare department became home to ten brightly coloured characters, as part of an art commission created in collaboration with patients. 

In workshops lead by illustrators Pencil and Help, patients waiting in the department were asked to design characters who they thought would enjoy a giant game of hide and seek. These were then given a professional polish by the artist duo and brought to the walls of the department by Artfelt.

One of the designers was 8 year-old Phoebe, who is treated regularly in the department for juvenile arthritis. She came up with the idea for Coloray, a long legged creature with an extra eye in his tummy who Phoebe said is a, “silly character” who is “just average at hiding”. 

The hide and seek game develops throughout the department. The journey begins with Wheeler counting down in the lobby, while all the the other characters are running off to hide. Children are able to go on different routes to find the characters, with some being repeated to ensure that they have a good chance of spotting them all.

The Chinese tangram became the basis for a collection of geometric art installations set to help soothe young patients going into surgery.

We commissioned designers Thomas.Matthews to line our theatre corridors and treatment rooms, as a way to provide distraction for children during the anxious moments before they are anaesthetised. The project was created not only to complement new state-of-the-art theatre suites, but also to flow consistently between old and new parts of the department. 

The tangram concept builds scenes with tessellating shapes that break away to reveal animals, plants and buildings for children to spot as they walk and culminating with a focal light box in the ceiling of each new anaesthetic room, which can be used by staff to encourage children over the daunting threshold. The work is designed to be an aesthetically pleasing uplifting piece, providing tools for improvisation and dialogue, but without being patronising to older patients.

Shapes also dance along the ceiling of a double height corridor in the form of a Perspex mobile. Designed to make the most of a newly built large space with a lot of natural light, the coloured, transparent shapes create patterns of rockets that move in and out of sight as patients walk below.

Jack Bardwell, designer at Thomas.Matthews, said: “We spent a lot of time speaking to escorts who take children down from the wards to theatre and exploring the importance of graphics as a tool for distraction. The idea was to create a game that could be played by children with the escorts on the way to their operation, by spotting the animals and patterns hidden in the tangram.”

The Eye Department at Sheffield Children's Hospital diagnoses and treats a wide range of paediatric eye disorders. It is vital that eye disorders such as lazy eyes or squints are detected as early as possible so that effective treatment can be initiated before eyes stop developing.

Artfelt worked with designer Nick Deakin to create visually stimulating artwork across the Eye Department. Nick used bold colours and a simplistic style to create a world of characters running through the department. The project is designed to both engage and stimulate young patients and assist in clinical assessment.

Through the provision of interactive art, we hope to make the experience of visiting this department as stimulating for the eyes as possible.

Laurence Pattacini, a lecturer in landscape architecture at The University of Sheffield said Nick’s work has transformed the department, which she visits regularly with her 11-year-old son.

She said: “Before, there were nice pictures but the space, without any windows, felt quite claustrophic. When we first saw it after the makeover, it felt brighter and more welcoming with a fresh colour scheme. Adrian noticed too, he is very observant. He has had to go to hospital every three months for the last nine years, so the environment is important as we have to wait around. He noticed the colours and the drawings – it is always nice to see new things you haven’t seen before, and with this new design there is so much to see. It just feels fresh. It is essential that clinical spaces are designed like this. It is important for wellbeing, not only of the patients but the staff. Working in an environmental field, I appreciate that the spaces people work in are central to their morale.”

At Sheffield Children's Hospital, we see lots of mums with babies and feel it is important to provide helpful facilities and support, so new mums can feel comfortable when visiting our hospital.

When the hospital created a dedicated breastfeeding room in the main entrance, Artfelt was asked to fill the safe space with calming artwork suitable for the women who use it.

Working with artist and illustrator Sarah Abbott, we provided feminine and floral pieces that create a tranquil and soothing feeling for all mums.

The hospital has since won an award for its excellent work to provide a breast feeding friendly environment. 

When the hospital started to design a dedicated neurosciences ward, they asked Artfelt to help ensure the environment was suitable for patient needs.

Working with the Neurosciences Department we selected colours for the walls, flooring and furnishings that would create a sense of calm and relaxation. Artists TADO were commissioned to create artwork that was fun and uplifting, but that reflected the muted colour palette chosen especially for the neurology patients. TADO were set the difficult challenge of creating imagery that was suitable for all age ranges, but wasn’t too overwhelming for children with neurological conditions.

The artwork fills the corridor, cubicle and bathroom areas of the eight bed facility and works alongside the electronic bath, hoist system and patient interactive systems, also funded by The Children’s Hospital Charity. To the excitement of staff and patients, the dedicated neurosciences ward was opened in 2009 by charity patron and world heptathlon champion, Jessica Ennis-Hill.

Jess said: "During my visits to Sheffield Children's Hospital I have been touched by the inspirational work of the staff and the bravery of the young patients. I feel extremely proud to have such a fantastic children's hospital in my home city and am keen to do all I can to raise awareness of their great work."