Four-legged volunteers have been praised by hospital staff for their “miraculous” effect on patients.
Eleven therapy dogs visit the wards at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital in East Yorkshire.
One 20-year-old patient, who was left unconscious and unable to move after a car crash, reached out to stroke Barney, an eight-year-old cockerpoo visiting his bedside.
Rachael Hardcastle-Pearce, the head of voluntary services for the hospitals, said the impact on patients and staff was “phenomenal”.
The eleven volunteer dogs have amassed more than 800 hours’ service in the past two years.
They were recruited by the charity Pets as Therapy (PAT) and work two-hour shifts.
Yvonne Batten crouches down to feed a treat to Hugo, a border terrier, who is standing on his hind legs with his front paws on her knee. Yvonne is wearing a black hoodie and light blue polo shirt, the PAT volunteers uniform. Hugo is wearing a yellow bib.
Yvonne Batten with Hugo, the longest-serving therapy dog at the hospitals in East Yorkshire
Barney has worked the most hours and his owner, Denis Lockwood, was the first to suggest taking PAT dogs into intensive care units.
Mr Lockwood, from Beverley, East Yorkshire, said he had seen “very sad situations”, but Barney “takes the stress off things”.
He described seeing a miraculous response in two patients who had been given a slim chance of recovery.
One, who had been unconscious and had not moved since arriving in hospital, reached out to stroke Barney.
Mr Lockwood said: “I’ve put the dog by them and they’ve stretched out for the dog. The first person that happened to, I had been told by the nursing staff he probably wouldn’t recover.