Published on: 24th June 2025
The UK’s leading charity for children’s play in healthcare Starlight is held its first annual Innovation in Health Play Awards to recognise and celebrate inspirational healthcare professionals who have used pioneering ideas to improve children’s healthcare experiences.
Starlight aims to put play at the heart of children’s care in hospitals and hospices and shine a spotlight on how play can reduce fear, pain and trauma during a child’s treatment and recovery from illness and positively impact their long-term well-being.
Zoe Keates, a senior healthcare play specialist from Coxen Ward, our children's ward, was selected as one of our three runners up and received her award today. She was joined by family, colleagues from across RNOH, and members of the Starlight team as well as the RNOH Charity.
Zoe said she was “over the moon” that she was being celebrated for her innovation – an interactive model of an MRI scanner to support under 13s. She explained that this age group were routinely being sedated because doctors were concerned they could not remain still and would be frightened of the very loud noise and enclosed space.
She realised that play could relax children who needed scans when she came across a six-year-old patient who needed an urgent scan but could not be sedated for medical reasons, so she tried to relax and prepare him with an improvised model. The scan went so well she wanted to develop this technique and the idea of a creating a 3D printed model that children could play with was born.
Children can put an action figure or doll inside the model, called ‘M R I Can Do It’ and select music and ‘radiographer’ voices to mimic the real-life scan. She has also used the model to help adults with learning disabilities and presented it at conferences abroad. Her goal is to make it available to children worldwide.
Zoe said: “It’s been quite a journey so far. I’m passionate about this project and want to make other improvements. I’ve heard so many stories from the parents of children who come to us for scans that have said the child could not go through with their MRIs at other hospitals where play was not used to prepare them. My work preparing children has led to an 88% reduction in the number of general anaesthetics needed for children at our hospital.”
Ade Adedugbe , Associate Chief Nurse for Children and Young People Service, said: "RNOH is delighted that Starlight has recognised Zoe’s work in developing the mini-MRI which continues to help reduce anxiety in children undergoing scans. Her dedication to ensuring children receive the very best care is inspiring and all of us are proud of her for this achievement and to call her a colleague. Zoe’s commitment to the quality of care to children, young people and their families across the organisation has been impactful for so many in the years. The mini-MRI has got better and better over the years – and Zoe’s not finished with it yet! We want to congratulate Zoe on her award from Starlight and look forward to what ideas she has next for helping children at RNOH, and those in other care centres.”
Cathy Gilman, Chief Executive of Starlight, said: “We loved Zoe’s innovation. She identified a problem with MRI’s for children and then dedicated herself to developing and perfecting an interactive tool to tackle it. We particularly enjoyed the positive language of ‘M R I scan do it too!’ Like many play-based interventions in healthcare, the MRI play model has had an impact on multiple levels, allowing faster appointments and less invasive procedures - reducing stress and risk to the child and has the bonus of allowing a more speedy and efficient processes for the NHS. It demonstrates the need for play-based solutions in other settings.”
Case Study
Zoe gave an example of a ten-year old boy who had MRI scans regularly under sedation for a medical condition in his local hospital but had been sent to the orthopaedic hospital for an MRI scan for scoliosis (curvature of the spine). When he arrived on the ward Zoe discussed with him and his parents about helping him have his scan awake which they agreed to.
The child was anxious about the noise and laying still, so Zoe showed him her model scanner and he enjoyed playing with the remote control and watching the bed go in and out with his chosen action figure. He also loved pressing the buttons to hear the noises of the scanner and radiographer’s calming and encouraging voices. Zoe also offered a relaxation technique for him to try to help him stay still. He was accompanied by Zoe to the scan, and he successfully managed it!
His dad was really grateful and said: “We know that he can now manage all his scans every year without having a general anaesthetic. I took the entire day off as annual leave today to be with my son and it’s only 10 o’clock and we’re done. This means we can spend the rest of the day as a family doing something nice”.
Zoe was delighted she had allowed a family to spend quality time together rather than being in hospital for six hours which is the norm for a general anaesthetic and that he would not require sedation for his future scans following such a positive experience.