Coronavirus: Harry Potter hospital rooms get JK Rowling approval

The hospital's medical team named meeting rooms after Hogwarts houses

Doctors dealing with coronavirus said they were "uplifted" to have a message of support from JK Rowling when they named areas of their hospital after Harry Potter school houses.

Meeting rooms at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital were named Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravensclaw.

The hospital said the idea was "a bit of fun amongst all the significant issues".

The author tweeted to say she had "rarely felt prouder".

The hospital's medical team decided to name meeting rooms after the Hogwarts houses when redesigning systems to be better prepared for the coronavirus outbreak.

Senior house officer Alex Maslen said: "The house names are familiar to many junior doctors who grew up with the Harry Potter stories, and the awareness has provided some reassurance during these difficult times."

Dr Mike Wheble, consultant in acute medicine, admitted he was "somewhat shocked" to receive a tweet from the author.

"It is really supportive of all of us in the NHS. It is so uplifting to get a message like that and has meant so much to me personally and so many of my colleagues here locally and indeed nationally," he said.