Children's Community Nursing Team :: Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Service available in:

Knowsley

Who we are

Our children's nursing team work with children and young people who have disabilities and complex health needs to provide expert nursing care, support and advice.

Our special school nursing team are based at Bluebell Park School. We are available to offer advice on healthy eating, constipation and bedwetting, immunisations, puberty and body changes, and any medical conditions your child may have.We are able to refer your child to another service if necessary for more in-depth advice or treatment.

The special school nursing team acts as a link between schools, hospitals and other professionals to help children with complex health need and those with long-term conditions such as asthma, epilepsy and diabetes to attend school and access health services. We can help by developing a care plan for your child so that school staff are aware of your child's health needs. If your child requires medication throughout the school day, we may be able to support them with this.

We offer:

Ongoing support – for you and your child
Treatment – we provide nursing treatments such as replacing or refitting nasogastric tubes for young people with dysphagia (swallowing problems) and managing central venous catheters
Hospital visit prevention – we know you want your child to go to hospital as little as possible and we work closely with you and your child's hospital consultant, GPs, community paediatrician and therapy team to help this happen
Teaching and awareness sessions – we help those working with your child to understand how to support them with feeding aids, tracheostomy management, oral and nasopharyngeal suctioning and emergency epilepsy management
Equipment – we work with you to ensure you have the equipment you need to care for your child
Health action plans and care plans – we make sure your child will be safe and supported at home and anywhere else
Continuing care assessments – if your child needs a special package of care, we will complete the assessments to support this
Transition to adulthood – we work closely with adult services to provide a smooth transition for children reaching adulthood

We provide our service at venues that are appropriate for you and your child eg home, school or wherever best meets your needs.

We also work with healthcare professionals, education staff, the children with disabilities team and private or voluntary agencies to ensure the needs of young people are met.

The service is accessed through direct referral from consultants, GPs, the hospital or from education colleagues.

When a referral is made, we will come and introduce ourselves to you and discuss your needs and our role.

Written information is provided and we will make sure you have our contact details and work with you and others involved in your child's care to provide for your needs in the community and in school if appropriate.