Spread a Smile

ABOUT US

Spread a Smile brings joy and laughter to seriously ill children in NHS hospitals and hospices across the country.

Through in-person and virtual visits and events, our entertainers – from magicians to musicians, artists, fairies and therapy dogs – enhance wellbeing and help young patients cope with the pain and anxiety of serious illness and hospitalisation.

Alongside our visit programme, our resident artists help to make the hospital environment more child-friendly and we also deliver a programme of family-focused events, enabling families to spend precious time together outside of hospital.

Since our founding in 2013, we have built a reputation for developing bespoke relationships with each family and each health setting, so that we can offer the most meaningful, impactful support.

In 2024-25, we delivered over 13,200 in-person bedside visits and over 2,600 virtual visits, in partnership with 39 NHS hospitals and six hospice partners.

Our core services include:

Entertainer visits – scheduled face-to-face and virtual hospital visits to children under the care of our hospital partners from our team of professional entertainers including play specialists, artists, magicians, musicians, poets and therapy dogs.

Outings and Events – an extended programme of family-focused theatre trips and physical and virtual family, sibling and teenage events plus regular treat drops across our hospital partners.

Art Initiatives – Enriching Spaces creates colourful murals on hospital wards and windows to make the hospital environment a more welcoming place for young patients and their families. Our hand-painted, bespoke masks and moulds support young patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment.