Community Children’s Nurses for Special Needs

The Special Needs Community Children’s Nurses offer specialist nursing care, advice and support to children, parents, relatives and carers. We define ‘special needs,’ in line with the definition stated in the Children’s Act 1989, as “a child who is unable to achieve or maintain, or have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development, be that due to physical or learning disability.” We are happy to act as a resource for other professionals and assist with joint assessments and discharge planning. We are also responsible for ordering, monitoring and maintaining equipment required by our clients, reassessing their needs as necessary and keeping up-to-date information on appropriate products. We are able to teach carers to learn new skills as the child’s condition changes and are happy to go wherever the need arises, be it at home, school or another location. We come under the umbrella of the PONT. One other member of the team is based at Bedelsford School as a staff nurse and is responsible for the children’s health care needs during school hours.

We are part of the multi-disci plinary Feeding Team at Maple Children’s Centre, where we can offer advice and support regarding feeding difficulties. As we are Community Nurses we are also able to offer outreach visits from the Feeding Team to assess the child within his or her own environment and video the mealtime for assessment by the other team members when appropriate. The Feeding Team is held on the first Wednesday of each month from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.  We are also part of the multi-disciplinary PACE (Paediatric and Adolescent Constipation and Encopresis) team. The PACE team is based at Roselands Clinic in New Malden and aims to support and advise parents and children with a multidisciplinary approach to assessment and management of these conditions. We again offer outreach visits from the clinic and are happy to visit childminders and schools to discuss any difficulties that they too might be experiencing. The PACE clinic is held every Thursday afternoon from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m.

We are members of the Share-The-Care management panel and the Parentlink steering group in which we offer input from a health perspective.  Please do contact us if you would like to know more about our service or to discuss how we might be able to help.

Who can we refer?
We have an open referral system, and therefore, anyone can contact us.  For the PACE cli nic and Feeding Team, however, referrals need to be discussed with the fund-holder first.  But a telephone call for advice is free, so do phone if you wish to discuss an issue.

What are the referral criteria?
We will see any child (0 to 19 years) with special needs who is living within the Kingston locality.  We also see any child who is under the care of Dr. P. Christie (Consultant Paediatrician at Maple Children’s Centre).

How to contact us
We work Mondays to Fridays 9 a.m. to 5p.m. 
Telephone 020 8546 7711, ext. 2599;

Alternatively, you can call in at Maple Children’s Centre, which faces Wolverton Avenue at the back entrance to the hospital.