What happens when I come in?

Your child will be referred to our team by their GP or the emergency department. If your child is discharged from intensive care, they will also come under the care of our team.

Our patients are looked after on any of the children's wards on G level and E1 in the hospital. Our children's short stay assessment unit is located in the children's emergency department.

Most children come into the children's short stay assessment unit, and are transferred to another ward if they need to stay longer than 24 hours.

If your child has been referred to the assessment unit, please enter the hospital via the children's emergency department and report to the reception upon arrival. A ward clerk will take your name and details. A paediatric triage nurse will then review your child. They will take their pulse, weight and oxygen levels.

Please remember that children will see a doctor in order according to how unwell they are, and not necessarily in the order they arrived in.

Once your child has been seen by a doctor, a plan about investigations, treatment and length of stay is made. We will keep you, and if appropriate your child, fully informed of the plan.

When your child is on the children's short stay assessment unit, a parent or carer must be with them at all times. On the wards, one parent can stay overnight, and parents and carers can visit at any time. Other family members are requested to visit during visiting hours of 8am to 12noon, and 2 to 7.30pm. We provide meals for your child on the ward, so please let the nurses know if they have any special dietary requirements. Meals are also provided for mothers who are breastfeeding babies less than one month old.