Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity was joined by patient family Alex, Jasmine and Evie Cookson, from Kidderminster, at the launch of its new £1m MediCinema Appeal, to build and run a fully accessible cinema – the largest of its kind in the UK and the first in the Midlands – inside the hospital, which will provide meaningful respite from the wards and improve wellbeing for both long and short-term patients and their families.

Every year, the hospital cares for 100,000 of the UK’s sickest kids. Of its 40,000 annual inpatients, over 7,200 (approx. 20%) stay for up to three consecutive weeks, with just under 700 having to stay even longer. These lengthy stays can impact an entire family’s physical and mental health, with patients often feeling isolated from their parents, siblings and friends. Bringing the magic of the movies to the hospital through a shared cinema space will create positive experiences for thousands of patients and their families every year and at no cost to them or the NHS.

This new facility is a partnership between Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity and MediCinema, a charity which builds and operates cinemas screening the latest films in hospitals across the UK. According to MediCinema’s ongoing research, 93% of attendees say visiting the MediCinema reduces stress and anxiety and 94% say it reduces the isolation felt in hospital.  91% said it helped people to cope and supported their mental health.

A total of £1m needs to be raised to make the cinema and its initial running costs a reality. Thanks to pledges of over £400,000 from Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity’s visionary network of Changemakers – made up of some of the region’s top business leaders, companies and entrepreneurs – there’s just £600,000 left to raise in partnership with MediCinema. The Children’s Hospital Charity has launched a public fundraising campaign, while MediCinema will be drawing on some funding support from its existing long-term partners.

The MediCinema will be housed in the hospital’s current lecture theatre, a non-clinical space, which will be converted to become a state-of-the-art cinema during evenings and weekends, while remaining as a place for staff training and education during the day.

The cinema will be complete with 63 purpose-made, movie-style seats and is designed specially to accommodate wheelchairs, hospital beds and medical equipment to ensure as many patients as possible can access the screenings. Once complete, it will be the largest MediCinema in operation, expecting to provide around 260 screenings per annum and putting smiles on the faces of an estimated 5,000 attendees every year.

One family who believes the cinema will be a game-changer for their time spent in hospital is the Cooksons, whose daughter, Evie, has been a patient since she was just two days old.

At just 36-hours-old, Evie suddenly stopped breathing and suffered a cardiac arrest. Her dad, Alex, immediately began CPR while they waited for an ambulance to take her to her local hospital. She was quickly transferred to the Children’s Hospital for intensive care to save her life.

Alex and Evie’s mum, Jas, were told Evie had sepsis and a bowel issue which required emergency surgery. After the operation Evie returned to Intensive Care where she remained for many weeks. Slowly, but surely, she began to get stronger, defying all the odds.

However, her journey was anything but straightforward, with multiple bouts of sepsis and an additional 15 surgeries. The family were also trying to balance their time between Evie in hospital and her older sister, Esmae, at home.

At six months old, Evie was finally strong enough to go home. Now three years old, she is still under the care of the hospital and has had another five operations, as well as multiple blood transfusions. She also requires specialist infusions at home, which Alex and Jas have had to have extensive training to be able to administer and she remains a regular inpatient at the hospital, often staying for weeks at a time.

It is anticipated building work on the MediCinema will start at the end of October and will take approximately eight to 12 weeks to complete.

The cinema will be supported by MediCinema’s central team, who oversee operations and programming and deliver official film-themed activities to transform the hospital experience for patients.

To find out more about the hospital’s MediCinema Appeal, or to donate, please visit bch.org.uk/MediCinema.