Matron awarded for reducing children's hospital fear

For children facing hospital treatment, fear can sometimes be as difficult as the procedure itself.

At the Royal London Hospital, matron Alison Klufio has been working to change that by helping staff reduce the distress and potential trauma children can experience during treatment.

Her commitment has now earned her the Protector of Play Award 2026 by Starlight, a charity which supports children's play in healthcare.

Alison said: "It is a surprise! Because I just do what I do. I love my job and the teams I work with.

"It is humbling but I find it very rewarding to be able to make a difference to the patients, to the families and also to the staff."

The approach, known as trauma-informed care, aims to provide children with necessary medical treatment while reducing the risk of causing psychological trauma.

Alison was nominated by health play specialist Katie Friend after she turned Katie's suggestion for training in trauma-informed procedural care into mandatory training for nursing staff and other healthcare professionals.

Alison has worked in nursing for 35 years and oversees three areas in the hospital's children's division: a general medical and respiratory ward, a short-stay and assessment unit, and paediatric outpatients.

She said: "The one thing that is always present is fear. Fear of what is happening now. And fear of the unknown.

"So for me, it's like, what can we do? How can we gain their trust?

"What resources do we have to tackle the fear, to protect them from the trauma, to make them feel settled and comfortable?"

Among the children to benefit is eight-year-old Tabeer, who was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, an autoimmune disease, when she was 18 months old.

She was later treated for osteomyelitis at the Royal London Hospital and underwent emergency surgery.

Her mother Arooj said: "They had to do emergency surgery which meant she had to go through a lot of cannulas, blood tests, finger pricking."

She said the experience came as a shock and Tabeer developed a fear of needles, but Alison and Katie made sure staff "understood what the kids really need in this difficult situation".

Six-year-old Sylvie, who has a form of blood cancer similar to leukaemia, has chemotherapy treatment shared between the Royal London and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

She has a surgical implant in her chest which needs to be regularly accessed using a needle.

Her mother Rebecca said: "At the beginning of her treatment she found that really traumatic and really difficult.

"A lot of that was about her not understanding what was happening - people's hands coming towards her, needles coming towards her."

After Sylvie began working with Katie, her mother said: "It transformed her experience.

"It's been so, so important for Sylvie, dealing with her anxiety, having that trauma-informed approach."

Cathy Gilman, chief executive of Starlight, said: "We have evidence that shows that where health play specialists are involved, a procedure like an MRI for example, can be conducted without anaesthetic.

"That means save the anaesthesia, fewer people involved, costs savings in the team. We can show that play really does pay.

"But most important of all, it's about children's experience of healthcare and making it as good as it can be so their lifelong experience of healthcare is a positive one."

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