The adolescent ward is on the first floor of the Women and Children’s Unit and is a separate space for young patients aged 11 – 16. ‘Adolescent’ is a word used to describe someone who is a teenager. Occasionally, if we are busy on the ward, a younger child may have to stay in the adolescent unit, or teenagers may have to stay on the children’s ward.
Our unit has seven separate bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. One of these bedrooms has a track and hoist system to allow disabled children to be lifted and moved safely from the bed to the bathroom and back, the bathroom has an accessible toilet and a shower bed. We also have a transportable hoist.
There is a small kitchen for young people and parents to make their own drinks. We ask parents to make a small donation for tea and coffee. The main area of the ward has a nurses’ station, TV sitting area and table for mealtimes, games and craft.
Patients tell us that the adolescent unit is a friendly place to get well. By having your own room you can have privacy when you need it or socialise in the communal space. The unit is run with two Nurses and often with the help of student nurses or healthcare assistants. Play workers also work on the ward providing activities, craft and distraction.
When you stay on the adolescent ward, you will be asked to sign and follow a few simple rules to make sure that everybody’s time on the unit is safe and happy. These include:
- No smoking. The hospital is a no smoking site and it is especially dangerous to smoke inside near medical equipment. We have a specialist team who can help you if you do smoke by talking through nicotine replacement and advice if you want to stop
- You can have your friends visit, anyone under the age of 16 should be with a responsible adult over the age of 18 and won’t be allowed to visit during school time. We ask that you only have two visitors at a time and do not disturb other patients
- You are allowed to use mobile phones on the ward providing your parent/carer or nursing staff are happy for you to do so. Your mobile will need to be on ‘silent’ and mobile cameras must not be used. If having or using your mobile phone is disturbing other patients or putting you at risk then staff may ask your parents to take it home with them
- We offer a confidential service. This means that we are here to listen, not tell, however there may be times where something you have told us should be shared to keep you safe. We will tell you when this needs to happen
Confidential also means that you should respect other patient’s privacy. You can do this by making sure you don’t gossip about who you’ve seen and you may be asked to leave the common area, especially on ward round when staff will need to discuss patients - Noise and language:
Keep it quiet, keep it clean and be respectful
We like our wards to be happy and all patients, staff, friends and family should feel safe and comfortable while they are with us.