Northern Ireland ClownDoctors are a team of hand-picked experienced professional arts perfomers, with additional training to work within healthcare settings and to interact with those with special and additional needs. The project was established in September 2004, with first visits to hospitals in February 2005. The team, who receive comprehensive and ongoing training for this project, work across Northern Ireland on a regular weekly basis throughout the year.

Testoring cushy cms@ We make regular weekly and repeat visits to acute hospitals and hospices to children and their families. Making individual visits bedside to bedside, through spontaneous play and improvisation, we interact with each child, encouraging them to take part in and take some control of the play. We are part of the team of care for each child we visit, working with medical and nursing staff, hospital play specialists, and family members. Our function within that team is to provide opportunities for fun, laughter, play, interaction, social communication, and creativity. We visit children who are chronically and acutely ill, and who are hospitalised on a long-term or repeat basis; children who are in hospice care; children and young people with severe or profound disabilities; and those who are life-limited.
 

Hospitals are challenging environments for those of all ages, especially children who find themselves in a different, confusing and sometimes alien environment. Children who are long-term patients or need recurring and repeat treatment may spend much of their young lives in hospital; some children spend their whole lives there. Every child has the right to play and to enjoy themselves. Every child learns through play. Northern Ireland ClownDoctors provide opportunities for hospitalised children and young people to play, and to involve families in some light-hearted moments, which can give relief from the stressful pressures of being in a hospital ward. Not only do we offer relief from boredom and isolation, we give children some sense of control and choice, a chance to re-assert their individual personality.