Visiting Hospital

As a child or young person there are many different times when you may need some help with your health or to feel better, sometimes this may mean that you need to visit or stay in a hospital.

Blackpool Victoria Hospital is a local hospital for people who live in Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre. The hospital has many different departments for people of all ages and to treat different illnesses and conditions.

If you are under the age of 16 (or 25 if you have additional needs or attend a special school) then you will be seen in the child health unit.

We have different areas that you might go to; follow the links to the right to find more information about each area.

  • Adolescent unit
  • Children’s assessment unit
  • Children’s clinic
  • Children’s ward
  • Day surgery
  • High dependency unit

Ward Round

Ward round is in the morning, this is where the doctors and the nurse who is looking after you for the day, will visit you at your bedside and see how you are doing and decide if you need any medication or tests. This is a good time to ask questions. On ward round it can seem very busy, there is usually a few doctors who will see you at once, some of these will be watching so that they can learn. You can always tell a doctor or nurse if you feel crowded.

Visiting

We know how important it is for you to have your family with you while you are unwell, so we encourage a parent or your carer to stay; we have foldaway beds for parents and carers to stay on next to you.

Parents and carers can use our parent kitchen area to make snacks and drinks and also relax and there is a bathroom available if they need to shower.

Your parents can visit at any time but other relatives and friends can visit between 10am – 7pm. Other children should not visit during school time unless they have special permission.

Safety

It is important that we keep our patients safe while they are in our care:

  • Doors to each area are locked; all visitors have to be let in and out by pressing a button and speaking to a member of staff. Staff can’t let people through the ward without finding out who they are
  • All of our staff should wear a badge with a photo, their name and their job written on. You can ask to see this
  • If there is anyone that shouldn’t visit you, we make sure that they aren’t allowed in.

At times you may need to stay in a side room to stop the spread of germs or to prevent you picking up germs that could make you sick. This is called barrier nursing and whoever enters your room will have to follow instructions about wearing aprons, gloves and sometimes a mask. For instance, this is especially common if you have a stomach bug or chicken pox. You can still have visitors and if you feel well enough you can still play.

Things to do – CLOSED TEMPORARILY

We find it’s really important to keep you happy and learning, we do this by making sure you have lots of things to do. Our children’s clinic and children’s ward have play rooms where you can climb about on our soft play area, or play with toys, books and arts and craft. We also have TVs and games consoles.

The hospital has specialist play workers who are well trained and experienced in working with children and young people in hospital. They have the important job of making sure every child in hospital can play, even if they are sick and have to stay in bed.

They also help children and young people when they are having different treatments by explaining what might happen and distracting you so that you aren’t scared.

We have a special sensory room where you can go to relax; it’s very calming and soothing and has different lights, sounds and textures. If you are at a special school you may have visited one of these before.

  • Play workers
  • Sensory room
  • Toys and games
  • Televisions and games consoles
  • Soft play
  • Arts and craft
  • Books

School – CLOSED TEMPORARILY

We have a local teacher who can help you with your school work if you are well enough, they can either bring it to your bed if you cannot move or you can visit our school room which is in the adolescent unit.

It’s important if you stay with us for a while that you get chance to carry on learning as you would if you were well and at school.

The school teacher can also arrange with your school to have work sent in to the hospital so that you don’t have to catch up when you are better.

Going to Other Hospitals

Sometimes children have to be transferred from Blackpool Victoria to another hospital if they need specialist care or treatments.  This would usually be one of two special children’s hospitals such as Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital or Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.

Sometimes if you have had treatment at another hospital you may also come back to Blackpool Victoria for a few days to recover. Whenever children have to move hospital they will be taken there by ambulance by trained paramedics and a nurse from Blackpool Victoria may come with you on the journey to help look after you.

Special Education Needs and Disabilities

To make sure we support your child in the best way possible please bring with you anything that can help us understand their needs. Feel free to being any person-centred plans, e.g. a PBS, any communication profiles, books or devices that can help us. If your child has any anxieties about coming in please let us know ahead of their visit so we can put measures in place to support them. Call us on 01253 955 365 Monday to Friday.