Celebrations were in order for staff, children and parents at the official opening of a new children's outpatient clinic.

Eastern Daily Press: Official opening of The Cove, the new children's out-patient ward at James Paget Hospital. Staff and special guests celebrate the opening. Picture : ANTONY KELLYOfficial opening of The Cove, the new children's out-patient ward at James Paget Hospital. Staff and special guests celebrate the opening. Picture : ANTONY KELLY (Image: archant 2017)

A year on from opening, James Paget University Hospital held an official opening ceremony of The Cove.

The new clinic was set up in 2016 in a refurbished part of the hospital to create a bright, clean and colourful area for young people.

To officially open The Cove, a string of paper boats were cut by eight-year-old Drew Bye and former staff member Rachel Short who was the original outpatients nurse and was responsible for setting up the original children's outpatient department.

Drew's mum, Layla Bye said: 'The Cove is lovely and it's what the hospital needs. It's great for children of all ages and abilities. It's wheelchair friendly and that's very important as the previous clinic when it was upstairs used to be an issue.

Eastern Daily Press: Official opening of The Cove, the new children's out-patient ward at James Paget Hospital. Staff and special guests celebrate the opening. Picture : ANTONY KELLYOfficial opening of The Cove, the new children's out-patient ward at James Paget Hospital. Staff and special guests celebrate the opening. Picture : ANTONY KELLY (Image: archant 2017)

'You notice that there's no clinical feel to The Cove, and it's nice for the children to be in a nice environment and play with the toys.

'It was absolutely lovely for Drew to be able to cut the ribbon. He comes here quite often and the staff here really care about him.'

The Cove has eight clinc rooms and two waiting rooms, one for adolescents and the other for children. It provides outpatient care for general clinics and specialist clinics include orthopaedics, gastroenterology, asthma and respiratory and renal clinics.

This year, the outpatient clinic has seen 2,570 more patients at around 250 to 300 more appointments a month since being in The Cove.

Eastern Daily Press: Official opening of The Cove, the new children's out-patient ward at James Paget Hospital. Staff and special guests celebrate the opening. Picture : ANTONY KELLYOfficial opening of The Cove, the new children's out-patient ward at James Paget Hospital. Staff and special guests celebrate the opening. Picture : ANTONY KELLY (Image: archant 2017)

Four-year-old Harry Miller and his mum Tamara Miller attended the opening. His mum said: 'The outpatients clinic has done so much for Harry. Until this year he was undiagnosed. The clinic has done so much, everyone knows Harry and it's really nice to finally see The Cove officially open. It doesn't seem as medical here as the old clinic does.'

Children's clinic senior sister, Jo Scott welcomed everyone to the ceremony. She said: 'The thing about being a children's nurse is the fun stuff outweighs the sad stuff.

'It's amazing to see the children meet milestones and know you've been a part of that. With outpatients, you see the children when they're well and you really get to know the families.'