Paediatrics

Coronavirus 

Please see  below specific information about attending/visiting our paediatrics department/ward.

We also have information on our Coronavirus advice page which you may find helpful.

Attendance and visiting arrangements
 

• A maximum of two parents or carers can be present at all times, with the exception of an overnight stay where only one can be present.
• General visiting for siblings, wider family and friends is 2pm to 8pm (excluding meal times). No more than two visitors are allowed at the bedside at any one time.

• More information regarding visiting at the Trust and COVID-19 restrictions. 

• Children that are attending for surgery are being requested to undertake a lateral flow test COVID-19, 48 hours before the surgery.  They do not have to isolate and they will be admitted to the children’s ward for surgery.

• Children that have symptoms of COVID-19 will be swabbed on admission.
  
  
• Please follow the link to see a short film created by the Young Persons Advisory Group at Birmingham Hospital, explaining PPE to young patients.  The purpose of the film is to reduce any worries that you may have regarding PPE that the staff will need to wear, and prepare patients before their admission to hospital.  Click here to view the PPE video.  

About the Children's Ward

The Paediatric department (Children's ward) provides inpatient and outpatient treatment of medical and surgical conditions, in children from birth up to the seventeenth birthday.

The Children's ward deals with medical conditions and also provides facilities for many surgical specialties. The majority of children needing surgery can be treated in Hereford, however surgery in young children (generally under two years of age) and specialist surgery is referred to a specialist Children’s hospital, usually Birmingham.

Both the medical and surgical specialties at The County Hospital have good links with Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Several Consultants from Birmingham also run clinics in Hereford which saves the family travelling to Birmingham, and gives us the chance to meet the colleagues who treat our patients and discuss any important issues.

The Paediatric Outpatient department carries out general clinics and specialist clinics for various conditions such as diabetes, respiratory medicine and epilepsy. The Paediatricians also hold clinics in some of the market towns including Llandrindod, Ledbury and Ross.

For the more specialist treatments, some children are referred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Outline of the Department

There are 16 inpatient beds.  We offer specific paediatric nurse trained care along with a dietician, physiotherapist and play specialist. We have specific adolescent facilities including a pool table, computers and Game Boys, along with an arts and therapy room for smaller children.

Children who present to hospital are most often seen in our new Paediatric Assessment Unit which is located within the Emergency Department on the ground floor of Hereford County Hospital.

Links with other Departments

Because the Children's Ward deals with a wide range of conditions, we have links with most other departments, particularly Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU), Theatres, A&E, Eign Suite and Birmingham Children's Hospital. We carry out outpatient services on site for some specialties i.e. Rheumatology, Cardiac Care, and Genetics.

We also work closely with the Community Child Health Department and Community Children's Nurses.

Young ambassadors help to improve hospital services

A group of primarily school aged children from Herefordshire have been invited to voice their views to help improve hospital services for young people in the county.  To find out more or if you would like to become an ambassador click here.

Other Information

We currently have 12 hospital-based Consultant Paediatricians and offer general and specialist paediatric clinics in hospital and general outreach clinics in Herefordshire and in Wales. These specialist services are listed against the Consultants in the contacts. The Community Paediatric team is based in the Child Development Centre (CDC) and delivers community outreach clinics within the county, and works with our paediatric physiotherapy and occupational therapy teams based at the Benet Building, Belmont.

Childrens Ward Mural

Click here to view the magical wonderland mural on the children's ward

Pre-operative assessment short film and welcome guide

Before you watch this short film, please read the information above regarding Personal Protection Equipment for staff at the hospital and super green pathway access to our hospital for patients.

The play team has created a short preparation film for children and young people undergoing general anaesthetic at Hereford County Hospital. The film follows the journey of character Sam and his mum at the hospital as Sam is going to have an operation. The film shows the steps involved for day case surgery including arrival at the ward, having observations, having a general anaesthetic and recovery before going home.

The reason the play team decided to make this short film is because we wanted to create something that could be viewed by children and young people at home with their families or carers in preparation of coming to the children’s ward for an operation.

This is something that can viewed again and again if necessary and will hopefully help patients to understand the processes of having a general anaesthetic and what to expect during a typical day surgery admission.

At the beginning of this project we pitched the idea to the children’s ward young ambassador group as we wanted to use their ideas and vision for the film.

The young ambassadors did a fantastic job and we are really pleased with the outcome. We really hope this helps the children and young people of Herefordshire to feel prepared and educated about their upcoming operation.

Please also see below the Welcome guide book for children staying in hospital.

Welcome guide book for children staying in hospital

We have created a Welcome book for children and young people staying on our children’s Ward at Hereford County Hospital.  

The booklet will explain some important things we think you might like to know about the Children’s Ward.  We hope you find it useful

Welcome book for children

Welcome book for young people

Tour of children’s ward

We appreciate that coming into hospital can be a difficult time for children and their families. The video below is aimed at preparing children for their visit to our hospital. We hope that they will have a better idea of what to expect when visiting or attending our children’s ward. And the film stars some of our lovely patients: Alesha, Imogen, Chloe and Misha. The film was produced by Hereford College Students Ben Harrison, Alex Wilson, George Weston, and Tom Pullen.