The Princess of Wales visits Evelina London Children's Hospital

Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales, Patron of Evelina London Children's Hospital, visited the hospital on Monday 6 July to meet patients, families and staff, and learn more about Evelina London's ambitious plans to provide even better care for children and young people. 

During the visit, The Princess met children receiving care and spent time speaking with families and members of staff about their experiences. 

The Princess was given an overview of Evelina London's vision for the future, including recent service moves that are bringing more specialist children's services together on a single site at St Thomas' Hospital. 

Her Royal Highness visited Edward ward, Evelina London's new children's cardiac ward, and Galaxy outpatients, a dedicated space for children and young people attending cardiac outpatient clinics and diagnostic appointments. These new child-friendly clinical spaces are supporting the planned temporary move of  children’s heart, lung and critical care inpatient services from Royal Brompton Hospital. 

The Princess also heard about plans for Evelina London to become the future provider of very specialist children's cancer and blood and marrow transplant services for south London and much of south east England. The new service will bring together expert teams from The Royal Marsden, St George's Hospital and Evelina London helping to ensure children can access a wide range of specialist care in one location. 

Staff explained how Evelina London's future expansion programme will increase capacity for specialist care, diagnostics, surgery and critical care. Since opening in 2005, demand for Evelina London's services has tripled, with around 104,000 children and young people receiving care each year. 

The Evelina London team were also able to share their exciting plans for a new hospital building, expected to open in the early 2030s, and the vital role played by Evelina London Children's Charity in helping to fund this expansion.

Gubby Ayida, Chief Executive Officer of Evelina London Women's and Children's Clinical Group, said:"We were delighted to welcome Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales to Evelina London today. 

"The visit provided an opportunity to share our vision for the future and demonstrate how we are bringing together exceptional specialist children's services to provide the very best care for children, young people and their families. 

"From children's heart, lung and intensive care services to the future development of specialist children's cancer services, we are making sure children can have more of the care they need all in one place. This will benefit families across London and beyond.  

We are incredibly proud of our staff and grateful to the patients and families who helped us showcase the impact of their work.

Mandy Sekhon, whose 3-year-old son Arjun met The Princess during the visit, said: 

"It was absolutely amazing to meet Her Royal Highness. She was really interested in why Arjun has been admitted for so long, his progress and how we're coping.

She took the time to speak to us and made us feel very at ease. She even caught a flying kiss from Arjun at the end, which was lovely. It was a really special moment for our family.

Rob Halkyard, Executive Director of the Evelina London Children's Charity, said:  

"The Princess's visit is a huge boost not just for staff and patients, but for all supporters of Evelina London Children's Charity, who are helping to make Evelina London's ambitious expansion plans a reality."

The Princess of Wales previously visited Evelina London in 2023 to officially open the Children's Day Surgery Unit at St Thomas' Hospital. During today's visit, she returned to see how the space has evolved and is now supporting a growing number of specialist children's services.