Life

What do you do when your teddy bear is poorly? Take him to a teddy doctor of course. That's exactly what a class of primary children did at a school in Leicester.

A group of medical students from the University of Leicester packed their stethoscopes and bandages up and took them to Wolsey Primary School.

But it was not to treat any of the human patients there, it was the more the woolly ones to be precise.

Teddy Bear hospital is a project aimed at reducing children's fears surrounding hospital through interactive play.

The project began three years ago in 2005 and was one of the first in the country. The medical students also celebrated treating its 3000th bear at the Beaumont Leys school.

Jodie Sabin explains: "The project is going from strength to strength and just keeps on growing, involving 25 schools and community groups such as Rainbows and with over 350 medical students participating in sessions.

"From February this year we will be expanding the scheme to suit older children and have adapted the sessions and acquired some new resources accordingly.

"We will be running the sessions in a similar way but in more detail and including sessions on healthy living and basic first aid for example.

"We feel that treating our 3000th teddy bear is an amazing achievement and we're incredibly proud to be part of a project that has benefited thousands of children in Leicester."

Young Surgeons

The children bandaged their teddies, listened to their hearts, looked at bones and x-rays, used medical equipment such as stethoscopes, and even dressed up as a surgeons and perform pretend surgery.

The current scheme is aimed at children aged four to seven years old.

Beryl Bacon, a Nursery Nurse at Wolsey House Primary School, said: "We feel very privileged to have worked with the teddy bear doctors.

"We have found it to be a positive and enriching experience for all of the foundation stage school children.

"The opportunity to meet, play and chat with doctors in a safe and familiar environment helps ensure that, should the need arise for a hospital visit, the children would be more at ease with the situation."