Youngsters suffering from long-term illness will be able to stay in touch with their school friends as the Radcliffe Infirmary becomes the first hospital to go on-line in Oxfordshire.

A new computer has been donated to the classroom at the Oxford hospital, as part of a nationwide 250,000 scheme by television presenter Carol Vorderman and UK computer firm Tiny.

It means children in the hospital's Leopold Ward can link-up with friends via e-mail, surf the Web and carry on with their lessons. The equipment, distributed by charity Express Link-Up - which provides IT equipment to hospitals - was presented to teacher Myles Godfrey, who looks after a constant stream of pupils at the specialist surgical unit.