Referring to Children's ED

Following discussions with colleagues at Bristol Children’s Hospital (BCH), there is a change to the way referrals are managed.

Cases are no longer needed to be added to 'non-clinical input'

You no longer need to select “non-clinical input” when closing a case for a child being sent to Bristol Children’s Hospital. Please close the case as you normally would.

Children’s ED colleagues will now review Connecting Care prior to assessing the child. This will give them a broader overview, including visibility of the Post Event Messages (your clinical record) and the GP records.

Phoning Ahead

Children’s ED have advised there is no need to phone ahead for definite admissions to ED.

You may still wish to contact the Children’s Hospital ED Out of Hours Advice Line: 0117 342 8666 if you are:

• Unsure whether hospital review or admission is required
• Needing guidance on pre-hospital emergency treatment
• Needing advice on the safest mode of transfer for a child who needs admission

Patients with Significant Safeguarding Concerns

• Discuss the case with the Clinical Co-ordinator or an experienced GP overnight.
• Follow normal community safeguarding pathways, including discussion with the Community Paediatrician on call for safeguarding and/or the Emergency Duty Team as appropriate.
• Consider phoning the Children’s ED consultant to hand over safeguarding concerns verbally before the child arrives.

Patients with Significant Clinical Concerns

• Ambulance transfer should be the default for all clinically unstable patients.
• In the rare circumstances where an ambulance is not available or appropriate for a child at significant clinical risk, a discussion should take place with the Children’s ED consultant to outline the situation and agree the most appropriate action and timeframe should the patient not arrive.

If you are seeking urgent advice from a paedatrician, please telephone CED as usual.