00:00Pets are often left at home when people enter hospital, but since Covid, the NHS has found
00:04a new way to bring patients some comfort.
00:07Mebway NHS Foundation Trust have 13 therapy dogs who visit the wards regularly.
00:12They say having this set of pets help to comfort patients and lend a paw towards recovery.
00:18I'm here at Sheffield Community Hospital on the Feralty Unit and I'm here with Daisy,
00:21who's got an important job to do.
00:23Each dog here goes through a kind of doggy DBS, testing things like temperament and sensibility
00:29before being on call for visits. Daisy is one of the smallest of the crew, joining the
00:33team at Sheppie six months ago.
00:35When I was in hospital, I had dogs come round even when I was at Mebway and it does give you
00:40a lift. There's no front with a dog, what you see is what you get and that is lovely.
00:46Because she was a rescue dog anyway, it's good that she gets to see all these different people
00:51and have to break down any barriers or any inhibitions that she has.
00:57The pets as therapy team has been around since Covid, with all dogs and owners joining on
01:01a voluntary basis. Many of them are retired or staff bringing in their pets outside of
01:06work hours. The pups have recently been kitted out in named bandanas and leads, courtesy of
01:11donation by the family of a former patient, Lisa Young, who took particular comfort in having
01:16the dogs by her side. I think it's really good for patients to come in and see, especially
01:21when they're missing. They've been at Mebway and they've come into hospital, they're missing
01:24their loved ones, they're missing their animals. You know, obviously we don't get cats, but
01:28obviously a lot of people are missing their cats. But a dog is just the same when they come
01:32along and give them like, you know, a bit of affection. They really do like it.
01:35So you can definitely tell the difference it makes with the patients, especially those that
01:39have got animals at home. So they will tell us about all our dogs at home, you know, or
01:43about a dog they once had, or even our patients with dementia, you know, it will take them
01:48back to their younger days when they had dogs. And you can see their faces light up. So they
01:52do enjoy most of them having the dog around.
01:55These dogs are not just here for Christmas. They're here year round to leave a positive impact
01:59on those who need them most.
02:01Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Sheppey.
Comments