Our Specialties: Paediatrics
St Peter's Hospital
The Children's Services Business Centre includes both General Paediatric and Neonatal Services. These have separate junior and middle grade on call rotas, but a joint Educational Programme which is recognised as a particular strength of our Department.
- The Neonatal unit is a 24 bedded Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with 8 intensive care cots, 24 further high dependency/special care cots and an 8 bed special care unit situated on the postnatal ward. We manage all medical neonatal intensive care problems including total therapeutic hypothermia and mobile nasal high flow therapy.
- Accident and Emergency Unit
The Paediatric A&E department operates 24 hours a day and is staffed by experienced paediatric nurses. Children under the age of 18 are seen in the department, which has an attendance of about 20,000 per annum. Emergency GP referrals are seen and assessed in the Paediatric A&E Department.
- Ash Ward (in-patient paediatric ward)
This currently has 23 beds for medical, surgical and orthopaedic admissions. There is a dedicated adolescent unit of 6 beds catering for those between 12 and 18 years of age. There is a 2 bed close observational bay where children with high dependency needs are managed.
- Oak Ward (day case ward)
This is a 12 bedded day unit dealing with medical and surgical day cases from Monday to Friday. This also acts as a short term observation unit at times to assist A&E.
- POSCU
There is also a designated 3 bed day case Paediatric Oncology Shared Care Unit.
- Paediatric Outpatients
This is situated in the main Out Patient Departmental Block. There are regular clinics plus joint speciality clinics run by both General Paediatric, Neonatal and visiting consultants. There are also Rapid Access Clinics which are run by Registrars
General Paediatric surgery: this is now performed under the care of visiting consultant surgeons from St. George's hospital.
The Hospital School lies next to the ward and provides teaching to in-patients and those needing special tuition from home.
A Child Assessment Service is run at White Lodge (adjacent to the hospital site), which also provides services for children with neurodisability.
We receive excellent support from the Radiology Department with a weekly radiology meeting with the Paediatric Radiologists.
Ashford Hospital
A separate Paediatric outpatients department is based here. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and child behavioural and developmental assessment work is also carried out in the unit.
There are no overnight paediatric in-patients at Ashford hospital.
Local Teaching
We have a separate rota for senior and junior medical staff to provide cover for both General Paediatrics and the Neonatal Unit. There are 6 Neonatal Consultants with special interests in cardiology, neurodevelopment and Research.
There are 14 General Consultant Paediatricians with special interests in Diabetes/Endocrine, Behaviour, Cardiology, Respiratory/Allergy, Neurology and Oncology. We run joint specialist clinics with visiting consultants from London hospitals.
Our junior doctor rota is a shift system and is EWTD compliant. There is an attending system in place for both the General and Neonatal side - this means there is always a Consultant in the Unit to deal with medical/management issues.
On the General Paediatric side there are seven Specialist Registrars, one Speciality Doctor and one Associate Specialist who covers A&E during the working week. Other junior staff consists of two F1, three F2, five GP and two paediatric STs. On the Neonatal side there is an Associate Specialist, five SpRs (one neonatal Grid trainee) and four Clinical Fellows and a research fellow. The other junior staff consists of one F1, two F2s and six STs.
The Junior Doctors rota is coordinated by the Paediatric Leave staff who also help with Study leave and provision of cover if someone is off sick.
Education/Training is coordinated via the College Tutor, Dr. Tracy Lawson, and Deputy Tutor, Dr. Shailini Bahl. Michael Hooker (ext 2762) coordinates all the Education activities for the Junior Doctors. The Educational programme is supported by the trainees and is sent out via email on a monthly basis. A full description of educational meetings is also provided in the faculty handbook. We encourage all our Junior Doctors to attend internal and external educational events and study leave is provided with internal cover..
Other Educational Events/ Opportunities
- Neonatal Transport Service
- Simulation training - simulation suite at Ashford Hospital, in situ simulation on NICU.
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Sub-Specialty Opportunities
Genetics, surgery, urology, SALT, dietetics, physiotherapy
Research Opportunities
Participation in multicentre research studies as well as opportunity to perform audit, service improvement projects.
Supervision
Each trainee is provided with an Educational /Clinical Supervisor at the start of their job. They are expected to see their Educational /Clinical Supervisor to plan their learning objectives. All of our educational supervisors have teaching/educational supervision certificate. There is an active LFG (Local Faculty Group) with regular 3-monthly meetings. This is a great opportunity to discuss all relevant issues regarding training, study leave, educational activities and any other issues. Trainee representatives are an integral part of our LFG.
The Paediatric Department is known for its friendly atmosphere and commitment to education. Informal visits to the department can be arranged via Education/Training Liaison, Michael Hooker.
Exam Support
All Consultants and Registrars are keen to teach trainees and support them in obtaining their membership exams. Time for private study and courses will be allocated.
College Tutor
The College Tutor for Paediatrics is Dr Ellie Day and the Deputy College Tutor is Dr Tracy Lawson.
Further information about the Trust can be found at www.ashfordstpeters.nhs.uk
MRCPCH Clinical Exam Coaching Course at St. Peter's Hospital Chertsey
Book early - maximum of 24 candidates as we pride ourselves on the quality of our coaching.
We have excellent pass rates on our courses and would like you to enjoy some of our success.
Face to face
- Day 1 - small group work (max 6x in a group) with experienced mentors. You will get focused teaching and coaching on exam technique rotating around history, communication, development and clinical stations.
- Day 2 - Full mock exam with consultant examiners running same circuits like the real exam. However, with extra time for focused feedback from your examiner.
- You also get 1:1 discussion on your mock exam score with allocated mentor at the end of exam.
Refreshments throughout both days plus free lunch included in course fee.
For more information, please visit our webpage here.
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