Youngsters and staff who took part in the Takeover Challenge Day at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
YOUNG people from across the Fylde coast took over the running of Blackpool Victoria Hospital as part of a national campaign.
The youngsters, many of them current patients at the hospital, took over the running of several departments, including medical photography, communications and patient experience as part of the Children’s Commissioner’s Takeover Challenge.
Rebecca Addey, Paediatric Patient Experience Officer at the Trust, said: “Takeover Day is a fun, hugely successful and exciting engagement project which sees organisations across England opening their doors to children and young people to take over adult roles.
“It puts children and young people in decision-making positions and encourages organisations and businesses to hear their views. Children gain an insight into the adult world and organisations benefit from a fresh perspective about their work.
“It was fantastic to see the passion and enthusiasm in everyone who took part.
“Teams were truly interested and welcomed young people into their roles, enabling them to learn about the many careers we have in the NHS.
“Young people also had the opportunity to ask questions about how decisions are made at the Trust, and the effect they can have on young patients.”
One person who took part was Alex Sagar, 15, from Lytham High School, who said: “When you think about hospital you only really see doctors and nurses but the benefit of days like today is you see the wide range of jobs on offer that you didn’t always know existed.’’
Other youngsters taking part included Morgan Leather, 14, who spent time with staff in the children’s unit.
Morgan worked alongside Leanne Lamb, a hospital play specialist, who said: “I think Takeover Day is a fantastic idea and a great experience for young people. It was good fun to interact with people and exciting and I really enjoyed it.”
Another person who enjoyed the day was Hannah Fletcher, 17, a student at Blackpool Sixth Form who worked with the hospital’s patient experience team.
She said: “It’s good to get to see what staff do at work and also see patients and their experiences in hospital.”
Andrew Heath, Head of Patient Experience, said: “It’s a real-life opportunity for students to experience work experience. It also helps to understand a young person’s perspective better.”