“Access to fresh air, sunlight and time with loved ones close to medical support will significantly enhance the experience for our young patients, their families and carers,”

Dr Corrine Balit, Senior Paediatric Intensive Care Specialist, Director of Paediatric Intensive Care Services

“This welcoming and culturally respectful courtyard will be equipped with medical equipment so even the most unwell children in PICU can experience the natural environment with the support they need”

Julie Tait, John Hunter Hospital Executive General Manager

“Sitting in the same walls every day for weeks, listening to the beeping, the phones ringing, the rapid response alarms, the handovers, watching the numbers on the monitors like a hawk. It was like our bodies were continually in survival mode every second of every day.

The new courtyard is going to be that place of solace when all the beeping, medical lingo and heavy moments just get too much. It will be a space to cry, a space to think or a place to escape the noise even if only for a minute.

It will provide an outlet for the huge mental load that comes with spending time with children in ICU.

I would often find myself needing more breathing space than what the unit could offer, but being downstairs and outside, I felt too far away. If something went wrong, there were flights of stairs, 2 sets of locked doors, and what felt like an eternity between open space, and our daughter. The new courtyard is going to alleviate this for future families. It will be accessible enough to feel safe to take a moment to yourself. That alone, in my opinion makes this whole project worth while.”

Sophie Mitchell, Parent of Harriet Mitchell a PICU Patient