Christmas comes early for kids in hospital with delivery of 250 iPads

Christmas has come early for patients at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow following a delivery of 250 iPads.

Children who have to stay in the hospital for treatment will each be given access to one of the tablets, which are preloaded with 136 apps from Disney+ to educational games.

Each iPad can be configured to different age groups to suit the patient, before being cleared and re-set for the next child to use.

The remaining iPads will be distributed around the hospital.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde applied to the Scottish Government for funding for the project and were delighted to receive the full amount of £163,000.

Carson Kelly was one of the first patients to get his hands on one of the iPads, having been in hospital several times this year.

The ten-year-old has undergone a number of operations following a serious car crash in January.

Carson’s mum Sheree Birse said: “I think it’s great that the kids will have these by their beds. Some other patients like Carson can be in hospital for long periods of time, so having these, with the movies and games, will really help to keep them occupied.

“Carson’s been enjoying the games this afternoon and it makes the time pass for him while we wait for him to get home. We’re hoping that will be in the next day or two.

“The play team here have also been great, coming round and playing with him – they really do a great job.”

Mark Riddell, head of estates operations at NHSGGC said: “The iPads have been going down a storm with the kids. As they are being installed, they are coming up to the engineers asking them if they’re going to be next!

“Doing this in Christmas week has been great fun and there’s been lots of fun and lots of smiles. We all feel like Santa Claus!”