The Older Person’s wards at St Nicholas Hospital, Newcastle enjoyed another fantastic live music session from Music in Hospitals.
Akenside Ward is an inpatient unit supporting older people with mental health problems through a range of different treatments and therapies.
Akenside hosted the event and welcomed patients from Castleside and Gibside ward to come along and enjoy the session. Castleside Day Hospital patients and staff were also invited to come along and enjoy some live music from Paul Reed. It was an ‘early’ Halloween themed afternoon tea session with autumnal comfort food served like pie, mushy peas, hot dogs and jacket potatoes. The food was a joint effort, prepared by Kathy Johnson (Activity Facilitator) and some of the patients on the ward, and was thoroughly enjoyed.
The Older Person’s wards are very grateful to receive the funding from the Trust’s charitable funds, which has been used to book monthly live music sessions on the wards. Alternating the location of the sessions between Akenside and Castleside wards, so far the wards have enjoyed sessions from Paul Reed, singer and guitarist and Tom and Robert playing the accordion, violin and vocals. They are also hoping to sample some of the other acts Music in Hospitals has to offer in the coming months.
Akenside had an excellent turn out for this session. There was lots of interaction with patients and staff singing along, playing tambourines and shaking maracas. The feedback was very positive and demonstrates how therapeutic it can be to bring people together for music and singing.
A big thank you to Castleside Fund, part of the Trust’s charity, for funding the Music in Hospitals sessions. The wards hope to welcome more acts in the coming months and raise funds in the new year so the sessions can continue for patients, carers and staff to enjoy.
