02 May 2014
Specialist children's services under one roof at the expanded Bristol Children's Hospital
A decade of planning will come to fruition next week when
specialist children's services at Frenchay Hospital move to the
extended Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in the centre of
Bristol.
The new helideck, on the roof of the Bristol Royal Infirmary
(BRI), will also become operational next week, to ensure seriously
ill and injured patients can be transferred to the both the
children's hospital and the BRI as quickly as possible.
From Wednesday 7 May, all specialist paediatric services in
Bristol will be delivered from the children's hospital, run by
University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UH Bristol). This
follows the move of paediatric burns, neurosurgery, plastic,
orthopaedic and children's Accident & Emergency services from
Frenchay to the children's hospital.
Dr Bryony Strachan, clinical chair of the Division of Women's
and Children's Services, said: "The move to centralise inpatient
and specialist children's services at the children's hospital was
first recommended by Sir Ian Kennedy in 2001 and together the
health services in Bristol and the surrounding areas have been
planning this significant move for over a decade. We are delighted
to welcome colleagues, patients and families from North Bristol NHS
Trust."
Dr Amber Young, Lead for Specialist Paediatrics at North Bristol
NHS Trust, said: "This is the end of a very long journey. I will
miss the Barbara Russell Unit hugely but I am extremely excited
about moving such a high quality specialist service to a
nationally-renowned children's hospital."
Over two years ago, UH Bristol began building a £31 million
extension to the children's hospital to accommodate services
transferring from Frenchay. New facilities include a 16-bed
neurosciences ward, a four-bed burn centre, six high dependency
beds, specialist theatres for burns and neurosurgery, a hybrid
theatre to enable complex cardiac procedures, two day-case
theatres, an intraoperative MRI scanner and other diagnostic and
outpatient facilities.
"For the first time, all inpatient and children's specialist
services in Bristol will be provided from one site. The services
transferring from Frenchay are some of the most specialist in
England and we look forward to offering them from the children's
hospital, working even more closely with colleagues and getting to
know patients and their families," said Bryony Strachan.
The transfer of specialist A&E services for children to the
children's hospital means that in the future all children who are
seriously ill or injured will be treated at the Bristol Royal
Hospital for Children. Children with minor illnesses and injuries
will still be treated at other centres and GP surgeries as
appropriate including the new Southmead hospital which will
continue to provide a Children's Minor Injury Unit
(MIU).
Dr Giles Haythornthwaite, consultant in the Emergency Department
at the children's hospital, said, "Having all children's specialist
services located together will improve care for those seriously ill
and injured children. Injuries and illnesses do not necessarily
respect the traditional clinical specialties, for example a child
involved in a traffic accident is often injured in a number of
different places. They might require brain surgeons to deal with
their head injury and paediatric surgeons to deal with their
abdominal injury. When all children's specialist services are
together at the Bristol children's hospital, all the different
specialist teams that might be required will be able to treat
children together in one location, This has not been possible
before in Bristol.
"As a consultant in the children's Emergency Department I am
prepared to deal with any ill or injured patient who comes into our
department. The fact that we now have the support of all children's
specialties within the one hospital will enable my colleagues and I
to deliver more holistic and ultimately better care to
patients."
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