Paediatric Critical Care L47/L47H

Welcome

L47 is Children’s Intensive Care and L47H is Children’s High Dependency. The unit is located on D floor in Clarendon Wing of Leeds General Infirmary.

Whilst your child is being looked after by our team of doctors, nurses, health care assistants and play leaders, we aim to involve families in their care as much as possible. We appreciate this may be a challenging time for parents and families, but we are here to support you on your hospital journey.

Whilst on Paediatric Critical Care, it may be that your child will need equipment and medicines to help keep them comfortable, aid investigations and support your child through their illness or procedure. Our staff will always aim to explain all aspects of your child’s hospital admission but sometimes the environment can be very busy so please ensure you ask questions and understand that we are here to support your child.

Visiting

We appreciate that during this difficult time support from loved ones is important. However, we must ensure we protect our vulnerable patients and staff and therefore visiting may be restricted during your child’s stay on Critical Care. The nursing staff will inform you of current visiting rules at the time of admission. Due to Infection Guidelines and aquity of the unit, visiting times and rules can sometimes differ.
Please also be aware that visiting may differ between Intensive Care patients, High

Dependency patients, and the other wards in the Children’s Hospital. We are constantly reviewing visiting rules so please understand if there are changes to visiting during your admission. For visiting to be as safe as possible for you and your family, we ask you to always comply with regular handwashing, stay within your own child’s bedspace and leave coats on the hooks outside Cubicle 9.

If you have been in contact with anyone with Covid 19 recently or have symptoms yourself, please ensure you are honest with nursing staff and don’t put vulnerable people at risk.

We also ask that if you have experienced diarrhoea and vomiting, you do not visit for 48 hours after symptoms have stopped.

Sometimes, procedures or emergencies may take place on the ward either for your child or another patient.

We may ask you to leave to make the environment safe for staff and patients. Please understand that this is routine and nursing staff will contact you when you can return.

If you have any questions regarding visiting, your bedside nurse or Nurse in Charge will be happy to discuss these with you. Visiting is always at the discretion of the Nurse in Charge, and we thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Our team on Critical Care is made up of different specialties

On Critical Care, our nursing staff are trained to look after both Intensive Care patients and High Dependency patients. Nursing staff will be wearing different coloured uniforms depending on their job role.

Senior Sisters will be dressed in dark blue uniforms and are often in charge of Critical Care on a day-to-day basis.

Sisters will be dressed in royal blue uniforms. You may see them coordinating areas on the ward or looking after patients.

Staff Nurses will be wearing a light blue uniform and are often bedside nurses. Our Nursing associates are also in a very similar uniform and involved in patient care.

Health care assistants will be wearing green uniforms and may help with patient care and the general running of the ward ensuring nursing staff have the correct equipment available.

Specialist nurses will wear a purple uniform. Specialist nurses have niche roles and are experts in their own areas. Examples of specialist nurses that may be involved in your child’s care are our Family Care Nurse, Pain Specialist Nurse and Nutritional Nurse.

A nursing associate helps bridge the gap between health and care assistants and registered nurses. Nursing associates work with people of all ages, in a variety of settings in health and social care. The role contributes to the core work of nursing and will also be allocated to work at the bedside.

There are many more professionals who may be involved in looking after your child on Critical care such as Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Pharmacists and Dieticians. We aim to work as a team to provide the best care for your child.

On Intensive Care, your child will be looked after by Intensive Care Consultants and Doctors. They also may have other Doctors involved in their care who specialise in different areas depending on your child’s illness. Our ward rounds are run every day where the multi-Disciplinary team will discuss your child and plan any investigations, treatments, and decisions. We will always aim to discuss ward round decisions with you and offer time for update and questions.

We have services available to offer support to your child and family

Being on Critical Care can be a challenging time and therefore, we have different methods of support that you may wish to use.

We have a family care nurse called Chloe. Chloe can offer a range of support for families who have a child on critical care. She will aim to support you from admission through to discharge. Please do not hesitate to ask for her help and support. She is present on the unit Monday to Friday.

Psychological support is also available both for parents and patients. Please don’t hesitate to discuss this with your bedside nurse or our Family Care Nurse.

We have Play therapists on Critical Care. Who can provide distraction therapies and play to make your child feel safe and help them understand their hospital journey. They can also offer support with documenting your hospital journey and making positive memories along the way.

We also aim to support any religious or spiritual needs whilst on Critical Care.
We have a multi-faith chaplaincy service which are available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day to support you and your family. We also have places of worship within the LGI which are available for you to use during your stay. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, some of the services are now being run virtually or are limited to a small number of people. We are complying with government guidance so rules may change regularly.

There are plenty of things you can do to support your child on Critical Care

It is normal for parents and guardians to feel lost on Critical Care and like they can’t do anything to help. However, we want to assure you that there are plenty of things you can do to help.

We love to know what your child likes such as hobbies, favourite music, or TV shows. You can bring in their favourite teddies or blankets and read them stories*. You may wish to bring in photographs or simply sit and hold their hand. It is also helpful, if possible, to bring in your child’s nappies, milk, toothbrush, and soap etc.

You can also help with cares such as washes, eye and mouth care and changing nappies. However, we want to make sure you know it is also okay to not feel comfortable with this and stress that all families will handle their Critical Care journey differently.

We have an app called Just Talk where we can send you messages and send photos of your child to you in a confidential way which can offer comfort if you are away from their bedside. We do however hope that you acknowledge this would come secondary to any nursing and medical care that we needed to do to ensure your child’s safety.

Please be aware that we cannot be responsible for valuables.

We have some parent accommodation that we can offer to help you stay close to your child whilst they are on Critical Care

If your child is on Intensive care, family are not allowed to sleep on the unit. Intensive care is a busy and fast paced unit with lots of equipment so it would be unsafe for you to sleep next to your child.

We have four emergency rooms that are available for parents of children who are admitted to Intensive care. You will be allocated to one of these rooms’ dependant on availability. If you live within the local area, you may consider going home at night as this will enable us to accommodate families who have travelled from around the country. Leeds Children’s hospital has a wide range of specialities and expertise hence families have often travelled far. Our emergency rooms are basic accommodation which are not for long term use, and you will be put on a waiting list for Eckersley House. It is not an option to stay in our emergency rooms long term as these are for families admitted from out of area over the weekend or in the night.

Eckersley house is run by the Sick Children’s Trust charity and offers parental accommodation with cooking and bathroom facilities*.

If you are staying in our emergency rooms or Eckersley, we ask that you respect the rooms by keeping them tidy, refrain from alcohol, drug or tobacco use and look after the key. If you are staying at home and do not use the room regularly, you may be asked to return the key to allow other families access to the facilities.

When your child no longer requires Intensive Care treatment, you will be asked to return the key as these rooms are for Critically ill children’s families only.
If your child is staying on our High Dependency unit, it is safe for you to stay with your child on one of our parent’s camp beds. Only one parent will be permitted to stay overnight.

*Please be aware that some facilities may be unavailable due to Covid 19 restrictions.

Parking is available at Leeds General Infirmary, and it may be possible to be granted a parking permit whilst your child is on Critical Care

Please speak to your child’s nurse about parking permits whilst you are at our hospital. Please note that not all families are eligible, and it will only be one parking permit per patient.

Please only park in marked areas and be mindful of disabled spaces, emergency service bays and staff parking.

There is parking available in the multi-storey which is located near Jubilee wing. The postcode is LS2 9LU. Alternatively, there is a smaller car park in Clarendon Wing. The postcode is LS2 9DE.

We strongly suggest that you look after yourself so you can stay strong and well during your child’s admission. This includes making sure you are eating, drinking, and sleeping

If you are a breast-feeding mum, we will offer you free meals whilst your baby is on Critical Care. Please make sure you discuss this with your bedside nurse.
We also have a range of facilities within and around the hospital.

• Eatwell Restaurant: C floor, Clarendon Wing
• Green Parrott Café: A floor, Clarendon Wing
• Fontanella Coffee House: Jubilee Wing
• Eatwell Express: Jubilee Wing

There is also a Tesco which is located outside Jubilee Wing. The postcode is LS1 3DX.

Please note that whilst face coverings are still mandatory in hospitals, you will not be allowed to eat meals at your child’s bedside.

To keep yourselves, your child and our staff safe, please follow the following rules when on Critical Care

• Please wash hands when entering and leaving the ward and also regularly throughout your visit.
• Please hang outdoor coats up on the pegs provided outside cubicle 9 and refrain from leaving any valuables in pockets as we cannot be responsible for any personal items.
• If you see nurses drawing up and checking medications, please refrain from talking to them or asking questions so that they can concentrate.
• Please be aware that we cannot always answer the door to the unit straight away and patient care and safety must come first. We kindly ask for your patience and understanding with this matter.

We hope you find this booklet helpful

• Please do not hesitate to ask any further questions during your stay on Critical Care. We are always willing to help and support you as best we can.
• We always aim to resolve any issues or concerns but if you wish to escalate further, you can ask to speak to the Nurse in Charge or to our Matron and they will be happy to have a conversation with you.
• We also have an independent service in the NHS that can process any worries/concerns or complaints you may have called PALS (Personal Advice and Liaison Service). Please ask your bedside nurse about this and we can provide an information leaflet.

Contact us