Southwark and Lambeth Children take over Evelina for the day

Think for a second: what would you do if you could take over any job for the day? Would you do the same job you are doing now? Or would you face the challenge and do something different?

Well, the latter is exactly what a group of more than 15 children did when they took over Evelina London Children’s Hospital for a day as part of a national event on December 10.

The group consisted of children and teenagers, which also included the hospital’s patients and students from secondary schools in Southwark and Lambeth. For one day, they had the chance to be in charge of some parts of the hospital during the Takeover Challenge event.

They took over and shadowed a wide range of jobs. For example, they learned how to change dressings, monitor vital signs and resuscitate a baby by using a manikin. They also shadowed the hospital’s communications team, where they were allowed to tweet updates using the hospital’s Twitter account.

In addition to that, the children also participated in Radio Lollipop, Evelina London’s radio station, and shadowed as well the hospital’s play specialists and researchers. When their day came to an end, they were given a celebration, their job was praised and finally they were given certificates.

The Takeover Challenge is an event led by the Children’s Commissioner for England that puts children and young people into real-life decision-making positions in organisations.

That is exactly what Payvin Esmaeel, 15, a patient and pupil at Pimlico Academy in Westminster experienced. She said: “There is so much more going on behind the scenes at a hospital than I realised. I would recommend this day to other young people to get a greater understanding of working for a children’s hospital.”

Thanks to the Takeover Challenge, children who take part in it gain a valuable insight plus experience of a workplace, while organisations benefit from newer perspectives. “We were delighted to take part in the Takeover Challenge. All the young people who took part should feel really proud of themselves for sharing their ideas and contributing to how Evelina London is run,” said Janet Powell, director of nursing at Evelina London.

When asked what other benefits Payvin has obtained from the event, she added: “I decided to come to learn new skills and find out what it’s like to work for a hospital. I learnt how to use social media and write news stories.”

Another advantage from this event is that it is a good way to let children express what they think so professional adults can make better decisions.

Every year, Evelina London cares for almost 100,000 children and young people in hospital from across South London and south-east England. It provides a wide range of services from before birth, through childhood and on to adult services.

For more information about the Takeover Challenger for next year, readers can go to childrenscommissioner.gov.uk