Being Healthy

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Sunderland NHS Teaching Primary Care Trust
South of Tyne and Wearside Mental Health Trust
City Hospitals NHS Trust

There are several providers of health care in Sunderland. These are Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust; South of Tyne and Wear NHS Trust; and City Hospitals NHS Trust. Each provide a different range of services.

NHS Direct 0845 4647
NHS Direct is a phone service staffed by nurses and professional advisors, giving confidential healthcare advice and information 24 hours a day. You can call NHS Direct on 0845 4647 and calls are charged at local rate.

NHS Direct allows you to speak directly to experienced nurses and professional advisors about your health problems and questions. Using their skills and experience and an extensive computer system, NHS Direct can then give you advice on what to do next. NHS Direct can also give you general information on local health services, such as late-night pharmacies, out of hours dentists or support groups, or more in-depth information about any condition you or a family member may have.

NHS Direct Self Help Guide: this is available on line and in booklet form. It contains advice on the most common symptoms people contact NHS Direct about, and offers guidance on how to deal with them. The web address is www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk . If you want a copy of the book, it can be picked up in pharmacies and GP surgeries, or ring 08701 555 455 to order your free copy.

Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust

Continence Advisory Service
The clinical nurse specialist team provide continence assessment, and arrange care and support based on the needs identified in the assessment. This may involve working with others such as health visitors, district nurses, learning disability nurses, school nurses, medical consultants, etc.
The care that can be provided includes:

• Practical support through the provision of incontinence products. A home delivery service is available
• Advice and assistance with potty/toilet training programmes, bladder training and use of enuresis alarms
• Support and information about urinary catheterisation, drug therapies and surgical options for bladder/bowel problems.

• Continence for children with learning difficulties
• Paediatric continence – assessment and treatment
• Paediatric continence problems
• Bed wetting
• Enuresis alarms
• Guide to continence care product range
• List of manufacturing/mail order products available

Local and National Support around Continence
There are many organisations in the UK and abroad who offer information, advice and support around continence issues. For details of these organisations click here ERIC (Enuresis Resource and Information Centre) is a UK organisation which aims to support families and professionals around continence issues. They offer an on-line shop, newsletter, parent support groups and publications, as well as a help line phone number. The help line is 0117 960 3060 and is open 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. For more information Click here.

Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
Sunderland Royal Hospital, Kayll Road, Sunderland SR4 7TP

PALS provide confidential, on-the-spot advice and support, helping you to sort out any concerns you may have about the health care being provided, to guide you through the different services available from the NHS. It aims to advise and support patients, their families and carers, provide information on NHS services, listen to your concerns, suggestions or queries, and help sort out problems quickly on your behalf. The service is confidential and can be contacted between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday at:

Tel: freephone 0800 587 6513

Email: pals@chs.northy.nhs.uk

Website: http://www.sunderland.nhs.uk/CHS/patients/advice/pals.asp

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Health Visiting
Health Visitors are experienced registered nurses who undergo advanced training in child and family health. Health Visitors work closely with your General Practitioner (GP) and other social and health care professionals. Their aim is to improve the health and well being of individuals and communities, by helping people to improve their own health. The service is available to everyone. The website is: www.sunderland.nhs.uk .

In Sunderland, in addition to health visitors who work closely with GPs, there are health visitors specialising in the following areas:

• Disabled children and those with special educational needs
• Asylum seekers and refugees
• Homeless people and women and children fleeing domestic violence

Health Visitor for disabled children and those with special educational needs
Susan Mustoe is the Health Visitor for disabled children and those with special educational needs, and she works with children from birth until they start school. This involves giving advice and information to members of the Primary Care Team (GP, family health visitor, nurse, etc) to help them when working with the child and family.

Also:

• Giving advice to families over the phone and sending information by post to them
• Offering advice to the family to promote the health and well being of the child, e.g. around play, toileting, sleep, etc
• Helping families understand the health, education and social care systems by providing information about access to nursery places, benefits, etc. Referrals are taken from members of the primary care team, and directly from families

For more information contact:

Susan Mustoe, Pallion Health Centre, Hylton Road, Sunderland, SR4 7XF

Tel 0191 5656256 extn 45497

Health Visitor for asylum seekers and refugees
Mary Lax is Health Visitor for asylum seekers and refugees in Sunderland. This involves providing primary care services to refugee and asylum seeking families, liasing with other agencies and offering support. Her post is part of a larger team called the Pegasi Practice and is dedicated to providing services and support to this group. Referrals can be made by professionals, and by individuals through patient registration with the practice. A multi lingual practice leaflet is available. For more information contact:

Mary Lax
Pegasi Practice, Hendon Health Centre, Meaburn Terrace, Hendon, Sunderland, SR1 2LR
Tel: 0191 510 1865

Fax: 0191 514 1014.

Health Visitor for homeless people and women and children fleeing domestic violence
Elizabeth Weaver is Health Visitor for homeless people, and women and children fleeing domestic violence. She provides routine health visiting support specifically for this group, as well as running a drop-in for young homeless people, doing group work, health education and health promotion. Referrals can be made by professionals working with a family. For more information contact:

Elizabeth Weaver
Pegasi Practice, Hendon Health Centre, Meaburn Terrace, Hendon, Sunderland, SR1 2LR,
Tel: 0191 510 1865

Fax: 0191 514 1014.

Pegasi Practice
The Pegasi Practice is a new and innovative primary health care practice serving the needs of transient populations in Sunderland. A standard G.P. service is provided along with several clinics:

• Well baby/paediatrics: Monday, 11am-12noon
• Young person’s drop-in: Tuesday & Thursday, 11am-12.30pm (no appointments)
• Young person’s clinic: Tuesday & Thursday morning, (appointments necessary)
• Refugee health screening: Monday to Thursday, 2.15pm-4.30pm

Interpreters for non-English speaking patients can be arranged within 48 hours.
Repeat prescriptions require 24 hours notice.

The practice can be contacted at the address below:

Hendon Health Centre, Meaburn Terrace, Hendon, Sunderland, SR1 2LR

Tel: 0191 510 1865
Fax: 0191 514 1014

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South of Tyne and Wear NHS Trust

The 'South of Tyne and Wearside Mental Health NHS Trust' is responsible for the delivery of mental health services to the people living in Gateshead, South Tyneside, Sunderland and North Easington.

The Trust also provides Learning Disability services to the people of Sunderland. Click here for more information www.sunderland.nhs.uk/stw

A number of services for disabled children are provided by South of Tyne and Wearside NHS Trust, and some of these are listed below.

Psychology Partnership
The Psychology Partnership (Learning Disabilities) is a lifespan service working with both children and adults with a learning disability and their families/carers. The service offers psychological assessment and intervention with individuals’ families/carers and groups. We also undertake indirect work using a variety of methods with other specialist staff in promoting the psychological aspects of the overall care for health, children's services, education and voluntary sector staff. In addition, we are involved in research and evaluation projects on a regular basis. Teaching, training and supervision is a regular feature of our work. Referrals can come from a variety of professional groups in agreement with the individual child/adult’s GP.

For more information contact:

Hillview Clinic, Stannington Grove, Sunderland, SR2 9JT
Tel: 0191 564 2600
Fax: 0191 564 2437
E-mail: hillviewclinic@stw.nhs.uk

Quest
Quest is a joint initiative between Sunderland Children's Services and South of Tyne and Wearside NHS Trust. It is a specialist service that works with children who have a severe learning disability and whose behaviour presents a severe challenge to families and services. In practice this means direct work with the child and their family in providing an assessment and then working to find ways to reduce the behaviours. Much of this is achieved by changing the environment and helping family members to better understand the underlying causes of the behaviour, so that they can find more successful ways of dealing with it. The psychology input into the Quest service is provided by staff who also work in the Hillview Psychology Service and vice versa. Children who access Quest are those with severe learning disabilities (using Health Service Criteria) whose behaviour results in them causing injury to themselves or others, or prevents them from participating in their local community. Referrals can be made direct to Quest, but there must be a recent Children's Services Assessment. All referrals are discussed at a monthly meeting.

For more information click here 132kb or contact:

Quest, c/o Children with Disabilities Team, Gilpin House, Blind Lane, Houghton-le-Spring, DH4 5HX

Tel: 0191 566 2190

Fax: 0191 566 2191
E-mail: quest@ssd.sunderland.gov.uk

Community Nursing Service for Children with Learning Disabilities
This team works with learning disabled children aged 0 to 18 and their parents, around behaviour management, toilet training, epilepsy management, mental health issues, parenting skills, etc. Families can refer themselves by contacting the team at the address below, while referrals from professionals should be put in a letter to the team.

For more information contact:
Community Nursing Service for Children with Learning Disabilities, Gilpin House, Blind Lane, Houghton-le-Spring, DH4 5HX

Tel: 0191 566 2190

Fax: 0191 566 2191

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City Hospitals NHS Trust

City Hospitals NHS Trust aims to deliver a first class, comprehensive health care service to meet the needs of the local population. General and specialist services are provided to local communities, while a range of specialist services are also provided to patients from outside the area.

The Trust provides mainly acute services, but also provides a range of community based services, while there are strong links with Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust. For more information click here .

A number of services for disabled children are provided by City Hospitals NHS Trust, and some of these are listed below.

General Paediatric Services
The team of consultant paediatricians based at Sunderland Royal Hospital provides secondary health care for children. Children are usually referred by the GP, either for an out-patient appointment, or for in-patient care when the child is acutely unwell.

The Children’s Accident and Emergency department assesses and treats children with injuries. Children who are unwell should be seen first by the GP, but may then be sent for a second opinion with the paediatric team at the hospital.

There are two children’s wards and a High Dependency Unit for children who are very ill and need specialist nursing care.

There is a paediatric consultant of the week who sees all patients on the wards and is available to deal with any emergencies throughout the weekend and from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. The other consultants provide on call for the weekday nights.

The consultant paediatricians taking part in the rota for general paediatrics are:

• Dr Geoff Lawson, Clinical Director of Paediatrics - special interests include diabetes and epilepsy
• Dr Stephen Bruce - special interests include diabetes and endocrinology
• Dr Andy Mellon - special interests include gastroenterology and medical education
• Dr Ginny Birrell, locum consultant - special interests include diabetes, endocrinology and medical education
• Dr Karen Horridge - special interests include paediatric neurodisability and epilepsy.

All the consultants and specialist nurses can be contacted at:
Sunderland Royal Hospital, Kayll Road, Sunderland, SR4 7TP

Tel: (0191) 565 6256.

Neonatal Services
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit manages babies born prematurely or who become ill at birth or in early life. The Neonatal team manage babies on the unit and also follow up graduates of the unit or other babies who have been identified as having health problems early on.

The Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioners offer rapid access clinics for babies whose parents/carers are concerned about their progress.

The Neonatal consultants are:
· Dr Sam Richmond - special interests include metabolic medicine
· Dr Majd Abu-Harb - special interests include paediatric cardiology.

All the consultants and specialist nurses can be contacted at Sunderland Royal Hospital, Kayll Road, Sunderland, SR4 7TP

Tel: (0191) 565 6256.

The Neurodisability Team
Many disabled children start off being cared for by general paediatricians and neonatal specialists. Some continue under the care of these consultants, whilst others may be referred to the Neurodisability Team. This consultant-led specialist team manages children with more complex disabilities, usually referred on from other consultants.

Children may be seen in a range of settings:

• Clinics in the paediatric out-patient department at Sunderland Royal Hospital
• Clinics in some of the special schools, e.g. Portland, Sunningdale, Columbia Grange, Barbara Priestman
• Home visits if individual needs dictate
• In-patient care on the children’s wards at Sunderland Royal Hospital in case of acute illness or where 24 hour nursing is needed.

The service offers diagnostic assessment, support and ongoing management, linking closely with others in health, education, children's services and voluntary agencies as appropriate to the individual child’s needs.

Specialist palliative care is offered for children with life-shortening conditions.

The team is based in the Paediatric Department at Sunderland Royal Hospital and is led by Dr Karen Horridge

Tel: (0191) 565 6256 (extension 42486).

The Child Development Unit
Many disabled children start off being cared for by general paediatricians and neonatal specialists. Some continue under the care of these consultants, whilst others may be referred to the Child Development Unit. This is a consultant-led multi-agency centre for the assessment, diagnosis and management of pre-school children where there are concerns about the child’s development, including concern about autism spectrum disorders. Referrals come from Health Visitors, General Practitioners, Paediatricians, Child & Family Mental Health Services and Therapists.

The team at the centre link with community clinics, education and children's services day nurseries and do home visits. A care plan is made for each child which may include referral on to other services including education and children's services. The team provide medical advice for education where children are undergoing statutory assessment because of potential special educational needs. The team also provide support and training for nursery staff to ensure smooth transition into nursery. Children may participate in therapeutic assessment programmes involving paediatricians, therapists and nurses.

There are a range of special groups, usually accessed by referral from a paediatrician:

• Communication group for children with communication difficulties
• Cygnet group for children with complex disabilities and their parents
• Motor group for children with physical and movement difficulties
• Groups to support parents/carers in communicating with their children including ‘More than Words’, “It Takes Two’ and the Earlybird programme for parents
• Rainbow group for children with communication difficulties and their parents.

The consultant based at the Child Development Unit is Dr Era Saharia Tel: (0191) 565 6256 (extension 45273) - special interests include autistic spectrum disorders and neurodevelopmental disorders in the early years.

Information leaflets are available from Marilyn Lay, Child Development Unit Co-ordinator:
Child Development Unit, Children’s Centre, Durham Rd, Sunderland, SR3 4AF
Tel: (0191) 565 6256 (extension 45244)

The Feeding Team
This team works together to care for children with nutritional and complex feeding difficulties. The team meet once a fortnight to plan care, and run feeding clinics once a month to see children with their parents/carers.

The team members include:

• the community children’s nurses
• paediatric dietician
• specialist speech and language therapist
• Paediatric Gastroenterologist
• Paediatric Neurodisability specialist
• Paediatric Community specialist.

Other consultants and professionals join the team from time to time to discuss particular children.

The OK2 Team
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Paediatric Community Nursing Team
This team of specialist children’s community nurses provide care for children aged 0 to 18 years in the areas of:

• Children with complex medical needs
• Endocrinology
• Diabetes
• Epilepsy
• Gastroenterology and cystic fibrosis.

They assess needs and co-ordinate effective home care management for children and their families. They also offer home support, education and training for parents and other professionals around care. Nurses offer support through clinics, on the wards, at school and at home. Referrals to the team are made by a hospital consultant.

They are based at: Sunderland Royal Hospital, Children’s Out Patients, Kayll Road, Sunderland, SR4 7TP, Tel: 0191 565 6256 extension 41236

Fax: 0191 569 9005

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapists deliver children’s services to children aged 0-19 years who have posture, movement and co-ordination difficulties.

Children are seen at home, in the Child Development Unit, nurseries, special and mainstream schools. Hydrotherapy can also be offered where appropriate. Physiotherapists attend appliance clinics and wheelchair clinics, and carry out rheumatology, orthopaedic and neuro-developmental work based at the Children’s Centre. Referrals can be made by the child’s Consultant, GP, or Health Visitor.

For more information contact:

Physiotherapy Department, Children’s Centre, Durham Road, Sunderland, SR3 4AF
Tel: 0191 5656256 extension 49123

Fax: 0191 5283455.

Occupational Therapy

The Occupational Therapy Service provides assessment and advice regarding fine motor skills, sensory processing, independence and functioning in all areas of daily living. This may include assessment for equipment and environmental alterations in school. The child may be seen at the Children’s Centre, the Child Development Unit, in schools or nurseries, at home or in hospital. The Occupational Therapy Service accepts referrals from either a child’s consultant or a school doctor.

For more information contact:

Occupational Therapy Department, Children’s Centre, Durham Road, Sunderland, SR3 4AF.
Tel: 0191 5656256 extension 40042.

Speech and Language Therapy
Speech and Language Therapists provide packages of care depending upon the needs of the child. They work with children aged 0 to 19 years with disordered/severely delayed development of communication, language, speech, voice or fluency. The Team also work with children with eating/swallowing problems. This may include direct input (with a group or individual children), or with parents/carers, while also providing advice/training/support to parents or other professionals. There is an open referral system and forms are available from the address above. However, a medical referral is needed for eating/swallowing problems.

For more information or to request an information leaflet contact:

Speech and Language Therapy Department, Children’s Centre, Durham Road, Sunderland, SR3 4AF.
Tel: 0191 5656256 extension 49122

Fax: 0191 5699935.

School Nursing Service
The school nursing service is provided to all children from 4-18 years. The service includes:

• A Nurse led school health service
• Annual health needs assessment of the school age population.
• School health screening and assessment.
• Health protection programmes such as immunisations and vaccination against infectious diseases.
• Health promotion sessions, e.g. to promote healthy lifestyles at schools supporting teaching staff and SENCOs by providing health advice for children with special needs
• Monitoring and supporting vulnerable children and families
• Four special schools in Sunderland have their own on-site school nurse and medical support. All schools have a named nurse and health care assistant.
• Providing drop-in sessions for children in school for any health issues
• Advice and support for any child who develops health or learning problems.

For more information contact:

School Nurse Manager, Children’s Centre, Durham Road, Sunderland, SR3 4AF

Tel: 0191 5656256 extension 45230

Fax: 0191 5699262

Sunderland Eye Infirmary
Sunderland Eye Infirmary is one of the hospitals within the City Hospitals NHS Trust. It is located on Queen Alexandra Road, Sunderland, SR2 9HP. Tel: 0191 528 3616.

For more information contact:

Sunderland Eye Infirmary, Queen Alexandra Road, Sunderland, SR2 9HP

Tel: 0191 528 3616

Team working with children and young people with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
This team works with children with early onset less complex emotional and behavioural difficulties. This involves assessment and management of children and their families presenting with behavioural difficulties, and liaison with professionals already involved with the child and family. Interventions offered are as follows:

• Direct work with parents
• Individual work with children
• Group work with parents
• Group work with children

The team is made up of an Associate Specialist, a nurse manager, and nurse therapists.
Referrals can be made by health service professionals (GPs, paediatricians, school nurses and health visitors), and educational psychologists.

For more information contact:

EBD Team, Portakabin, Children’s Centre, Durham Road, Sunderland, SR3 4AF
Tel: 0191 5656256 extension 45235

Fax: 0191 5699262

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