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 You may have had to do a double take on the Friday before Christmas as a giant bear was running and dancing around the Royal Free Hospital, entertaining adults and children alike.
Hamleys toyshop in Regent Street, London, kindly donated sacks full of toys to the children’s ward and lent us their mascot to bring a smile to children who have to stay in hospital over the holidays. Reshma Vithalani, staff nurse on the children’s ward, said: “This is very heartwarming - the bear is beautiful and instantly lightens up the faces of the children. There were big smiles all around and we are all very thankful to Hamleys for their kind gesture.” Ends Notes to editors 1) For further information contact: Aysha Shah, communications assistant, Royal Free  Hampstead NHS Trust, 020 7317 7590, aysha.shah@royalfree.nhs.uk 2) The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust is renowned for its specialist services including liver, kidney and bone marrow transplantation, renal, AIDS/HIV, infectious diseases, plastic surgery, immunology, paediatric gastroenterology, ENT surgery and audiological medicine, amyloidosis and scleroderma. We run a major accident and emergency service, all branches of surgery and medicine, a renal service serving the whole of north London, paediatrics, maternity services, care of elderly people, an adolescent psychiatric service and one of two high security infectious diseases units in the country. We are a leading haematology centre and a major neuroscience base with a network extending throughout north London and into the Home Counties. We have associated internationally recognised research and training programmes. For more information visit www.royalfree.nhs.uk We are a member of the academic health science partnership UCL Partners. The Royal Free was the only teaching hospital in London to be rated excellent for services and excellent for use of resources in the 2008 Healthcare Commission annual health check.
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