Marvellous murals are helping to brighten up a Basingstoke hospital stay for mums and their new-born babies.
The post-natal and transitional care team wanted to make the bay a brighter place to stay so Grazia Sinar, clinical matron for post-natal wards, transitional care, and the neo-natal unit at Basingstoke hospital, contacted artist Kelly Griffiths.
Kelly, from Kiddies Heaven, previously painted a hungry caterpillar mural in the neo-natal unit, so Grazia asked if she could turn her hand to creating other eye-catching works of art.
Grazia said: “We asked Kelly to paint a tree in the post-natal ward corridor so that each family can put the name and date of birth of their baby on to the tree as a leaf when they leave to go home.”
Kelly also painted other murals on nearby walls, all related to the woodland theme.
Transitional care means ‘in-between care’ and is for babies who need a little more nursing care and monitoring than the routine care that all babies receive on the maternity ward. The team support babies to stay with their mother rather than having to go to the special care baby unit.
Grazia said: “Some families may stay many days in the transitional care bay as their baby progresses to be ready to go home. We wanted to make this environment as attractive as possible for those families, more like a nursery than a hospital ward.
“The staff and families love the mural work. So many of the staff have commented that it really lifts their spirits. Each person seems to find something different in the tree mural, and the parents and families feel that we are doing everything to make their stay with us as good an experience as we can.”
PHOTO: Kelly Griffiths’ mural work has brightened up the transitional care bay for mums, families and staff. The picture featuring staff and new-born babies was taken on March 18 before distancing guidelines were introduced.
