MediCinema Opens at Birmingham Children’s Hospital With a Touch of Disney Magic
10-year-old patient Ella Lowton-Smith, from Atherstone in Warwickshire (pictured above with Daljit Athwal, chief nursing and midwifery officer at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, and Mickey and Minnie), joined other young patients at Birmingham Children’s Hospital to officially unveil our new MediCinema, where they were treated to an exclusive preview of the new Disney and Pixar film “Hoppers”, ahead of its national cinema release on Friday 6 March.
The creation of the new, fully accessible, 84-seat MediCinema – the largest MediCinema in the UK – follows a £1m charity appeal by Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity and MediCinema charity. The MediCinema creates a space where patients and families, who sometimes spend weeks and months in hospital, can spend quality time together away from the wards, providing meaningful respite, reducing feelings of isolation, anxiety and stress and providing some normality during what can be challenging times. The MediCinema will screen the latest films at no cost to the patients or the NHS.
The creation of this MediCinema was made possible thanks to support from MediCinema charity’s Trust and corporate supporters, The Julia Rausing Trust and The Walt Disney Company, and £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, plus further contributions from the public.
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Red Carpet Opening for Patients
The red carpet was rolled out for patients at the MediCinema’s ‘premiere’ opening screening of Disney and Pixar’s all-new feature film “Hoppers”. Upon arrival, the children were greeted by iconic duo Mickey and Minnie, and treated to balloon entertainment and arts and crafts before the movie began. Following the screening, each patient left with a special gift from Disney to take back to their bedside, along with lifelong memories made.
Ella was one of those patients in attendance. Ella has been a heart patient at the Children’s Hospital since birth, having her first surgery at just five-days-old, after she was diagnosed with truncus arteriosus, a serious defect in which only one blood vessel leads out of the heart, instead of two. The surgery involved adding a tube to separate the blood flow. She had follow up surgery at 18 months and is due to have further surgery later this year to replace the tube that was added at birth. She’s currently in the hospital after an infection in the heart has left her needing an urgent course of antibiotics, which must be administered as an inpatient.
We’ve been in hospital for just over two weeks. It’s really tough for Ella to be away from home and from her little sister Olivia, so to have somewhere they can go and spend time together, away from the bedside, is so special. Ella is also a massive movie fan and we love going to the cinema as a family. We’ve been following the progress of the MediCinema for some time now, so to be here for the first screening is amazing. She’s been so excited about it and I know she’ll talk about it for weeks. We’re due to be in hospital for another three weeks while the infection clears, so I’m sure we’ll be back again to watch another film.
Ella's mum, Becky
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To see the excitement on the faces of the children at the screening was pure magic. The MediCinema is already making a massive difference. We know lengthy stays in hospital can impact an entire family’s physical and mental health, with patients often feeling isolated from their parents, siblings and friends. This often affects their overall wellbeing and recovery. Our MediCinema will help change that and we feel so privileged to be able to provide this opportunity for our children.”
Daljit Athwal, chief nursing and midwifery officer at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
We are thrilled to open our latest MediCinema in this prestigious hospital, our first serving the Midlands community. Cinema has an extraordinary ability to transport and comfort us and we see the difference our shared screen experience makes to patients and their families in hospitals every day. We are very grateful to everyone who has donated and are looking forward to working closely with the Birmingham Children’s Hospital and its staff to ensure that as many patients as possible here can benefit from visits to the MediCinema.
Paul Giggal, COO of MediCinema
Inside Birmingham Children’s Hospital MediCinema
The MediCinema is housed in the hospital’s lecture theatre. It features 84 purpose-made, movie-style seats and is designed specially to accommodate wheelchairs, hospital beds and medical equipment, ensuring as many patients as possible can access the screenings. It is expected to provide around 260 screenings per annum and put smiles on the faces of an estimated 5,000 attendees every year.
It will be led by a Cinema Manager with MediCinema nurses and volunteers trained specifically to help run the service. It will also be supported by MediCinema’s central office team, who oversee operations and programming and deliver official film-themed activities to transform the hospital experience for patients.
The MediCinema at Birmingham Children’s Hospital is the next step in MediCinema’s longstanding collaboration with Disney. As part of its work with children’s hospitals around the world, The Walt Disney Company has proudly been a supporter of MediCinema for more than 25 years through its Movie Moments programme; which brings movie magic to patients, their families, and the medical staff who care for them.
As well as funds to cover the build of the cinema, the £1m fundraising appeal target included the local running costs for the first 12 months. To ensure the hospital can provide magical experiences for patients and families for years to come – at no cost to them or the NHS – the charity will continue to fundraise for this invaluable space.
The MediCinema will mainly run screenings for patients during evenings and weekends, while remaining available as a place for staff training and education during the day.
