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Nurses’ child-friendly scrubs appeal for immunisation campaign

Team needs volunteers to make cartoon-style PPE that helps put children at ease
Picture shows a shelf with colourful bolts of fabric

Team needs volunteers to make cartoon-style PPE that helps put children at ease

Picture shows a shelf with colourful bolts of fabric
Picture: iStock

Nurses in Kent are appealing for volunteers to help make child-friendly scrubs that will not scare young patients, as they prepare for a massive flu immunisation campaign this autumn.

The team needs around 400 sets of scrubs in various sizes, preferably featuring images of cartoon characters, such as those from Disney and Marvel.

Picture shows a child receiving an injection
Picture: iStock

‘We have to wear PPE this year, which can look a bit scary’

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust clinical immunisation manager Laura Jones hopes fun scrubs will put children at ease when they are being vaccinated.

‘Immunisation nurses don’t usually wear scrubs, but we have to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) this year, which can look a bit scary,’ she said.

‘We want to put the children at ease and thought some fun scrubs featuring friendly cartoon characters would help.’

Ms Jones said the team faces a huge task this year, with 190,000 children in Kent and Medway aged 4-12 needing a flu vaccination between October and December.

Send donations to Scrubs for Immunisations

The team is not the first to use child-friendly PPE.

Clinicians in Salford Royal Hospital’s paediatric emergency assessment unit were concerned about making their young patients anxious because of how they looked in their PPE and added cartoon characters to the tops of their visors during the pandemic.

Anyone able to respond to Kent’s homemade scrubs appeal should write to Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust PPE store, 190 Upper Pemberton, Eureka Business Park, Ashford TN25 4AZ, marking the envelope ‘Scrubs for Imms’.


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