10. Childrens ward - smiling child.jpgThe Child and Adolescent Unit (CAU) is comprised of two wards. Ward 16 is an outpatient ward, and Ward 17 is an inpatient ward.

We admit children with various conditions and their length of stay varies from a few hours to as long as the condition requires acute hospital care. Our philosophy is family centred care and we encourage parents/carers to stay with their children where possible to help provide this.

The staff on CAU work closely with the Paediatric Physiotherapy Team and the Paediatric Pharmacist, who are based on the Ward.

The Play Team provide distraction for all children during invasive procedures, to reduce anxiety and provide a positive experience. They provide toys, craft sessions, DVD's and DVD players in order to prevent the children from getting bored. The Play Team are closely involved in pre-operative assessment clinics and assist in taking distressed children to Theatre for surgery in order to reduce anxieties and to provide a positive experience.

Inpatient Area

The inpatient area cares for children from 0 - 16 years of age, with a variety of conditions, medical, surgical and orthopaedics.

CAU have high dependency beds which provide emergency stabilisation of a child.  Children can be ventilated prior to transfer out to tertiary centres for example, Alder Hey Children's Hospital and the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, or may be treated in the high dependency unit until they are well enough to move onto the Ward area to continue treatment.

Day Surgery

The Day Case Team provide a Pre-operative Assessment Clinic to reduce anxieties of both parents and children prior to admission for planned surgery through to discharge. The Team provide medical tests for a variety of investigations to allow diagnosis to be confirmed and treatments to be commenced.

Assessment Unit

The Assessment Unit provides a service for patients attending from GPs and multi-disciplinary teams.  Children are assessed by nursing staff, then reviewed by doctors and treatments are commenced as applicable.  The decision is then made for patients to be either discharged home, reviewed further, or admitted to the Ward.

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