Royal College of Nursing say pets have a place in hospitals

The Royal College of Nursing is running a trial on selected wards in hospitals to investigate the benefits of “one-to-one animal therapy” for patients.

There are numerous articles on this website about the benefits of cats and dogs to a wide spectrum of people including those at work, those in hospital, elderly people, patients in hospices and young people with conditions such as autism. There are very many dogs and cats, yes cats, trained as therapy animals in the world, many of them in America who provide a wonderful service to patients both young and old in hospitals and hospices. I love to see this because it emphasises the usefulness of the companion cat which helps to counteract derogatory remarks by cat haters.

It is nice to see that an authority such as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is seriously taking up the idea of allowing pets on wards and in doing so working out how it can be done from a practical standpoint by which I mean mitigating the risk of infection.

The aim of the trial is to work out national guidelines for pets on wards. In addition, the University of Southampton NHS is running a trial with five dogs.

Amanda Cheesley speaking on the half of the RCN said:

“For certain patients, such as those with acute anxiety or dementia, animal therapy can help them feel less isolated.”

You can add kids to that list as the picture shows.

Source: The Times June 22d 2017.

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4 thoughts on “Royal College of Nursing say pets have a place in hospitals”

  1. I agree that pets have a place in healing. Both my dogs and cats are wonderful for healing sad hearts. They are also very attentive for illness and injury, offering a loving touch or purr to help us feel better. I know I would benefit from a Nurse Tongue or Nurse Purrl if I were in the hospital.

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  2. When my children were young, they were in the Girl Scouts. Their leader scheduled visits to nearby nursing homes and we were allowed to take our 3 dogs and four of our cats. All our haired and furred family were well behaved and were the hit of the day for the elderly. It taught the girls a lot. And the four-legged scouts seemed to enjoy it also.

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  3. I think it’s a lovely idea which could benefit a great many people. I’ve suggested to my friend that her Devon Rex would be an ideal therapy pet, because he’s so gentle and affectionate towards everyone. I know it cheers me up when he curls up on my lap when I visit.

    I see those FurReal toy cats are now marketed towards patients with dementia or those who live in sheltered accomodation where pets aren’t allowed. By all accounts, the results are very positive. Researchers at Wrexham Glyndwr University are about to give 10 robotic cats to dementia sufferers in North Wales for a six month trial. Hope it’s a success.

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