Wye Valley NHS Trust has issued the following important update regarding visiting to the Children’s Ward at Hereford County Hospital.
- Two parents can now be present together at the same time. However, this does need to be agreed in advance with the nurse in charge and to maintain social distancing on the areas of the ward. Siblings are not permitted other than in exceptional circumstances. More information regarding visiting at the Trust and COVID-19 restrictions.
- Children that are attending for surgery are being swabbed for 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.
- All children that are resident on the children’s ward will be swabbed on admission and will be swabbed according to the hospital guidelines throughout their hospital admission.
- Our Play rooms are open for individual sessions for patients and the play specialist will facilitate for all patients to have play opportunities throughout their stay on the children’s ward.
- Staff will be wearing various types of personal protective equipment (PPE) this includes an apron, face mask, and gloves.
- 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.
