Children’s Community Nursing and Psychology
We are a community children’s nursing and psychology service.
Who is this service for?
The Children’s Community Nursing and Psychology service is for families where a child has a life threatening, life limiting condition (not including malignant conditions as other services provide support for these children).
We provide support for families where a child has complex health needs that require specialist, often technology dependent support at home, provided through a care package.
More about us
We offer a nursing and psychology service within the community for children with life threatening and life limiting conditions, which are non-malignant.
We work closely with the multi-professional team to support the family in providing care at home and in other community settings. Children who are accepted for the children’s community nursing service will have an assessment of their healthcare needs and a plan of care made with the child and family to meet these needs. This care plan is regularly reviewed and amended according to the child’s healthcare requirements at the time
Visits are usually at home. These are individually arranged with each family and are made at prearranged times.
How we can help
We can help with:
- Clinical tasks that are able to be done safely at home to avoid a hospital visit e.g blood taking , sleep studies
- Liaison, co-ordination and planning with the multi-professional team to meet a child’s health needs
- Training families and carers in clinical care of a child
- Facilitating safe discharge planning from hospital to home
- Completing a detailed individual healthcare plan for the child
- Supporting the young person through the transition process from child to adult services, to enable transition at 18 years of age
- Supporting families with wishes for end of life care and enable children to live and die in their preferred place of care
- Bereavement support for up to 18 months after a child has died
- Arranging for the collection and delivery of clinical tests/samples such as blood tests
- Arranging for the funding and provision of medical equipment in the home i.e suction or monitoring equipment
How do I access this service?
Who can Refer?
Referrals can be made parents / carers as well as professionals. Referrals can be made for a child:
- with any life limiting or life-threatening condition where the child is not expected to live beyond 40 years of age (apart from children who have cancer, as they have their own specialist nurses)
- with long term invasive ventilation needs (via tracheostomy);
- assessed to require additional, on-going health care support provided by a care package (as assessed by the National Framework 2016)
- with a chronic/long-term condition with a specific nursing need
You can download a referral form here: Children’s Community Nursing Referral Form
Once completed, please send this referral form to us at the address above or (if you are an NHS mail user) securely email it to VCL.bathneschd@nhs.net.
Rainbow Resource
You can access information on what services children, young people and their families can expect from a range of local agencies – including education, health and social care providers and voluntary organisations using the Bath and North East Somerset Local Offer website – the Rainbow Resource.
Download the HANDi app – a local app providing expert advice on common childhood illnesses >
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