Dogs are being taken into hospitals in a study into whether they can help children to recover from treatment.
The project involves five dogs working in Southampton Children’s Hospital and Southampton General, and will inform the NHS on its use of animals in treatment.
It is led by University Hospital Southampton NHS foundation trust and supported by the charity Pets As Therapy and the Humanimal Trust, founded by Noel Fitzpatrick from The Supervet on Channel 4.
Lyndsey Uglow, a dog handler who is working on the study, said that it aimed to back up anecdotal evidence on the positive effect that dog visits had on patients.
“Our starting point is the impact of dogs with children,” she said. “But the same principles could, over time, be mirrored into other departments and into veterinary healthcare — for example, if animals recover better in a veterinary hospital or with their human family.”