Nurse helps Prince Charles make friends with therapy dog

Prince Charles met nurses, doctors, patients and a tiny dog called Little Dorrit when he visited a London hospital

Matron Darlene Romero introduced the Prince of Wales to the six-year-old Miniature Pinscher, a therapy dog for dementia patients at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital.

Along with the dog’s owner Diana Mukuma, Ms Romero explained the huge benefits Little Dorrit has for patients to the prince. 

Ms Romero said: ‘They cuddle her and they touch her and it is very calming for them.

‘We have a patient currently on the ward and she loves Little Dorrit. She used to be very restless, not able to breathe without oxygen. But with Dorrit around she was able to calm down and come off the oxygen for more than an hour.’

Delirium

Prince Charles visited the hospital on 6 March to mark the 70th anniversary of the British Geriatrics Society.

As the society’s patron, he also met dementia and delirium clinical nurse specialists Elizabeth Willis and Nike Tella.

He told them he had experienced delirium during a bout of pneumonia and Ms Willis explained that treating the root cause of the delirium, such as an infection in his case, improves the symptoms of the delirium. 

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