We are a team of registered Children’s nurses, health care support staff and administrators who work with parents and carers of children with acute, chronic, complex health or palliative care needs. The service encompasses; Asthma, Bladder and Bowel continence clinics and pad provision service, Children’s Community Nursing, Haemoglobinopathy, paediatric phlebotomy and Special School nursing.
Asthma
Children who have been seen in hospital for either a viral induced wheeze or asthma or have seen a GP and required steroids within the last 14 days are referred for supportive management of their respiratory needs. The service also work closely with schools to support the ‘Asthma friendly school’ initiative promoting greater knowledge and appropriate care delivery in Hounslow schools.
Bladder and Bowel
The service comprises of two key elements; the continence pad provision element and the continence clinic element.
Continence care/Pad provision
From the age of four, children with a need for continence assessment and pad provision will be assessed and managed by this service. The ordering and delivery of the appropriate pads is arranged separately through the NHS supply chain
Continence Clinics
Children needing clinical intervention and specialist nursing support to improve and manage their continence are managed by this element of the service.
Children’s Community Nursing
The team will manage children with a nursing need such as intravenous antibiotics, central line management, post-operative care, wound checks, home oxygen or vital signs monitoring e.g. blood pressure.
Haemoglobinopathy
Babies are usually identified in utero and referred to this service if diagnosed with sickle sell anemia or thalassemia. The nurses support with counselling and follow up clinical care throughout their childhood for these health needs.
Paediatric Phlebotomy
Hounslow GP’s can refer children between the ages of 1 and 14 to this service for any peripheral blood taking needs. The service provides appropriate support and distraction taking into account the individual child’s needs to ensure support is age and cognition appropriate.
Special School Nursing
Support is provided to 4 Special school sites in Hounslow by our health care support workers and nursing staff. Teaching assistant school staff are supported with appropriate training to enable them to provide individualized care to children whilst at school. Our service is available each school day to ensure that any troubleshooting and clinical evaluation can take place for the children with complex care needs to ensure their safety.
The service as a whole aims to provide the nursing care, support and education needed to enable parents and carers to manage their child’s health condition at home.
Where possible, we also work to enable early discharge from hospital and avoid hospital readmissions. This supports feedback that Children and their families can find it easier to receive treatment at home, rather than attending hospital, for certain conditions.
When arranging the plan of care, our team also take into consideration the care and support needed by the wider family, including parents and carers enabling us to deliver the best possible family centred care.
Referrals
Referrals are accepted for children and young people under the age of 18 with a Hounslow GP, children visiting the borough can also be seen if appropriate.
Referrals are accepted from anyone, including healthcare professionals, educational services, social services, carers and families providing a pre-existing health condition has been diagnosed. Once a child has been referred, a nurse will undertake a full nursing assessment and agree a plan of care with Parents/Carers and child.
Some children may have needs that our team cannot meet, in which case we will refer them to the appropriate service. It is rare that we can not meet a child’s health care needs.
We will make every effort possible to book appointments in advance at a time and in a setting convenient for you. This could be at home, in a clinic or at school. Occasionally our nurses might be delayed or our clinics may overrun. If we expect to be more than 30 minutes late, we will inform you.
Please note, morning or afternoon appointments are offered where home visits are necessary, no specific time is given to facilitate streamlined patient visit routes which are subject to change at any time.