Everything you need to start running Harvey's Lab Tours at your site
Tour resources
These resources provide guidance, templates and example materials for planning and delivering Harvey’s Lab Tours at your site. They are designed to help you organise, run and evaluate tours safely while creating engaging and supportive experiences for young patients and their families.
You are encouraged to adapt these resources to suit your local environment, governance processes and the needs of the children you are supporting.
Planning and governance
For setting up Harvey’s Lab Tours within your organisation, our resources help ensure tours are delivered safely and align with local policies and governance requirements.
Preparing for a visit
To support communication with families before a tour takes place.
Providing information in advance can help children feel calmer and more prepared for the visit. Our pre-tour questionnaire also helps you understand the young patient’s interests, needs and any support requirements so the visit can be tailored appropriately.
Delivering a tour
Resources to support the delivery of the tour itself.
Hands-on demonstrations and simple experiments can help children understand laboratory science and feel more confident about the tests they have.
Our young patient pack introduces Harvey the Bear and explains the purpose of the visit in a friendly and accessible way. It also includes activities such as an “I Spy” challenge and questions children can ask biomedical scientists during their tour.
Reflecting and feedback after the tour
Documents to support reflection and learning after the visit.
Reflecting on experiences can help reinforce learning and help children better understand their healthcare journey. Our reflection activity sheets allow children to record what they saw, learned and enjoyed during the visit through questions and drawings.
Communications and sharing your story
To help you share your Harvey’s Lab Tours through communications channels or social media.
Our resources provide advice on sharing stories responsibly while ensuring appropriate consent and safeguarding considerations are in place.
Adapting the resources
Every laboratory environment and patient group is different.
Our materials are designed as guidance and examples, and you are encouraged to:
- tailor activities to your discipline (e.g. haematology, microbiology, biochemistry)
- adjust tour routes based on your laboratory layout
- adapt language and activities to suit the age of the child
- modify documents to reflect your local policies and procedures
If you have any questions about using our resources, please email [email protected]
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Laboratory enquiries
Harvey’s Lab Tours don’t just benefit the children—they also give staff the chance to meet the young patients behind the samples, connect with families, and see the impact of their work firsthand.
Please note
This form is for laboratories interested in hosting tours.
We are unable to offer tours for students, graduates or members of the public.
Laboratory enquiry form