AT least one group of hospital patients will take their medicine without complaint at the weekend when teddy bears help their owners lose their fear of a trip to casualty.
Nurses at the new £67m Bishop Auckland General Hospital are holding a Well Teddy Clinic in the accident and emergency unit on Sunday morning.
Children will be invited to watch as they demonstrate various procedures such as taking teddy's blood pressure, stitching or glueing wounds and applying plaster casts.
The youngsters will also get a chance to look around the accident and emergency and x-ray departments and play with toy medical equipment and bandages.
Children's nurse Cheryl Peart has organised the event. She said: "Between 25 and 30 per cent of people who come through our doors are children and the accident and emergency department can be a very frightening place for them and their families.
"We wanted to give children a chance to learn more about what they can expect from a visit to the department but in a very relaxed and non-threatening way."
Children aged from three to eight are welcome in the hospital's outpatients department between 10.30am and noon.
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