Mariella Kaye, an 8 year old pupil at Manchester High School for Girls, has won the "Your NHS" art competition* in Manchester with her design for the hospital of the future.
The competition, supported by the Department of Health and Social Care and Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation trust invited local primary school children in the area to get creative to mark £72.3 million of government investment to develop a new adult mental health care unit in Manchester.
Open to all primary schools across Manchester, the competition invited children to share their vision for the ideal hospital or healthcare centre of the future.
Mariella's winning picture was chosen by a panel of expert local judges including Andrew Maloney, Deputy Chief Executive at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, after over 170 entries were submitted by schools across Manchester. Mariella is pictured at 10 Downing Street with The Prime Minister, her mother and father Hayley and James Kaye as well as nine fellow winners from across the country.
The judges were really impressed by Mariella's imaginative and inspiring design. They particularly enjoyed Mariella's science fiction inspiration and how her drawing looks into the future by imagining robotic pharmacies, a birthing box that delivers babies in under three minutes pain free, a welcoming scanning machine which updates on your healing progress and even a giant slide that sprays antibiotics to treat patients.
With designs featuring healing gardens, disappearing injury sprays and drones that deliver medicine to patients, 10 entries from budding artists across the country were chosen as winners. The 10 prize winners travelled to London on Monday 24th February to share their designs with the Prime Minister. The artistic talents of Mariella and her fellow winners have also won them £500 of art vouchers for their school.
The winning entry in Manchester will take pride of place in the new adult mental health care unit very soon, along with all of the designs that were shortlisted as finalists in the area.
Mariella said: "I can't believe I've won the Our NHS art competition. I had so much fun coming up with ideas for the hospital of the future and I have so many more ideas I would love to contribute. I just wish my entry could have been poster size! Hospitals make me happy knowing they help people young and old when we are sick or injured and they also save lives."
Helen Mortimer, Head of Preparatory Department at Manchester High School for Girls said: "We are very proud of Mariella. We had amazing entries from across the school and know the standard was high across the region. The competition was a great opportunity to get our children thinking about the NHS and I for one, can't wait to see some of Mariella's ideas come to fruition in the future."
Neil Thwaite, Chief Executive at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We were so impressed by the quality of the competition entries. It's clear that the NHS means so much to the community in Manchester and this was a great way of inspiring the next generation who will ultimately help drive the NHS forward. With energy and ideas like Mariella's, we will be in good hands."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
“I was delighted to welcome the young winners of the ‘Your NHS’ art competition to Downing Street. Their creative designs and visions for our health service were spectacular.”