Using HUG in Hospital

It was nice being able to have something that we could do that gave her a bit of comfort and made it seem less frightening for her.

Doctor (NHS hospital evaluation study)

Going into hospital can be a very frightening experience, especially for someone living with dementia. We have interviewed health professionals working in the NHS to find out how HUG can benefit patients in hospital. In our NHS study, we found that HUG can help reduce anxiety, agitation, assist with some medical procedures and aspects of daily care that become difficult when a patient is worried and distressed. The medical staff were delighted to be able to offer a HUG as an alternative to medication for patients who were very anxious. HUG's heartbeat was found to be particularly soothing. HUG also helped reduce lonely feelings for some patients, and improved their communication with medical staff.

You can read our published research article about our hospital study here.