SINGING star Nicholas McDonald brought some X Factor to the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

A former cardiac patient at the hospital, Nicholas is a Yorkhill Children’s Charity Ambassador and this was his first tour round the newly-built facility.

He spoke to young patients and lent his support to the charity’s latest fundraising campaign.

Last month Yorkhill Children’s Charity launched a Grand Prize Draw on the eve of its big move with the help of a young leukaemia patient.

The main prize in the draw, a £12,000 Renault Clio donated by Arnold Clark, has been touring Scotland to raise funds to help the charity support the young patients treated at the hospital.

For the duration of the campaign, the car will be wrapped in a special design created by Ryan Greenlees, a cancer patient at Yorkhill who won a colouring art competition.

Nicholas - who has recently passed his driving test - was impressed with the car’s bright design. He said: “It’s cool, really cool.

“I really liked how it’s something different - but you won’t get past speed cameras in that."

On entering the new hospital for the first time, Nicholas added: “It’s really nice - I’m surprised.

“In comparison to the old building there’s more colours, everything is nice and bright. There’s more energy here compared to the old building."

The interactive facilities also impressed the singer and he believes this will help take patients' minds off their treatment. He said: “It’s nice that everything has been updated. When I was in the children’s ward there wasn’t really much for you to do.

“It wasn’t all doom and gloom, but it was quite dark - whereas here it’s much brighter and you feel at ease about things.

“It doesn’t feel like a hospital - it looks more like a shopping centre.”

Ryan, 10, was diagnosed with leukaemia when he was eight and is responding well to treatment, which still has one year to run.

He attends weekly appointments in the day surgery at the hospital.

Ryan’s dad John, said: “We’re so proud that Ryan’s design was selected to go onto the car. In fact, I’ve asked if we can buy it.

“He’s benefited so much from the support of Yorkhill Children’s Charity so we are thrilled to be involved with their Grand Prize Draw.”

Ryan’s mum Elizabeth added: “Ryan absolutely loves cars, and we were all so excited to hear that his design had won the competition.

“We got a chance to take it around Alloa, where we live, on Friday - it’s been a very exciting time for all the family.

“We also got to take it to his gran and granddad's house.

“We took it to Ryan’s dads work and we made about £1000 here in his hometown, were overwhelmed by local support.”

Kirsten Sinclair, director of fundraising, Yorkhill Children’s Charity, said: “With the generosity of the public, the Grand Prize Draw will help us to fund £75,000 of state-of-the-art equipment at the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

“We may be on the move but our mission to support families across Scotland continues. And when we move into our new home next week, our 200 volunteers will be on hand to provide information to families as they arrive.”

Yorkhill Children’s Charity has already funded more than £5m in equipment and service delivery at the new hospital including a £1m interactive play area, which is the first of its kind in Europe.

Services transferred from Yorkhill Hospital to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children on the Southern General campus last month.

For information on how to purchase tickets for the Grand Prize Draw, see www.yorkhill.org