The Children and Young Adult service at St Oswald’s is a 6/7 bedded unit currently offering short breaks to 61 children and young adults, aged 0 to 25 years from across the North East.The children and young adults accessing the service have life limiting/threatening conditions and complex health and social care needs.
We also provide end of life care to children and young adults using our service and to other children/young adults when death is expected and imminent. These children maybe in-patients at the Great North Children’s Hospital or the Freeman Hospital. We offer an additional choice for a place to die which professionals can offer when planning end of life care. Occasionally we are requested to provide care to a child who has already died to support their family at this difficult time.
The service tries to be as flexible as possible to meet the needs of the child or young adult and can respond imaginatively in response to, for example, a family crisis.
A specialised team is required to deliver our service;
The Children and Young Adult Service at St Oswald’s is nurse led. The Care Team is predominantly registered children’s nurses with a couple of adult registered and learning disability registered nurses. The team also consists of Care support workers, nursery nurses, activity co-ordinators and therapy staff. The care team are supported by an administration team, housekeeping, catering and facilities staff
The service has comprehensive 24 hour medical cover. In normal working hours this is covered by St Oswald’s junior doctors, specialty doctors, an associate specialist and consultant. An out of hour’s rota is shared between Great North Children’s Hospital team and St Oswald’s junior doctors.
