Child rehabilitation

Who are we?

St Francis ward is one of six wards within the National Spinal Injuries, Centre Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Aylesbury. It is a specialist nine bedded rehabilitation ward designed to promote age appropriate independence to enable a child or young person to re-integrate back to their family and community at any stage following a spinal cord injury, aged 19 years and under.

St Francis ward opened in 2004 and is the first and only specialist ward in the UK dedicated solely to the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of children and young people with spinal cord injury.

The ward can be found on the ground floor, to the right of the main entrance to the National Spinal Injuries Centre, Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

Children and young persons can be referred for assessment to the children’s team at the National Spinal Injuries Centre by liaison with our medical lead Dr Allison Graham.

Our history

Stoke Mandeville Hospital has been involved with the treatment of childhood spinal cord injury since the spinal injuries unit opened in the 1940’s. Many changes have occurred since this time but a dedicated place for children with a cord injury and their families has always been the aim. 

We are very happy to announce our renewed 2012 CARF accreditation (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities).  We are the only paediatric facility in the UK to acclaim this eminent three year rehabilitation service standard award (since 2008). CARF awarded our paediatric facilities special recognition of the patient driven rehabilitation provided by the ward.

Facilities

St Francis ward facilities include a kitchen diner (where under supervision children can prepare hot and cold snacks); adapted showers & toilets and a laundry area; these all help to maximise the child’s independence. There are also therapy rooms and parent shower and washing facilities as well as a ‘family room’ if quiet time is required.

The ward comprises three twin bedded areas and three single rooms.  Overnight beds can be provided for one adult if a parent/carer needs to stay with the child.  The ward also has a secure outdoor courtyard with play facilities for younger children and a picnic area.

Rehabilitation

The rehabilitation facilities include ward therapy rooms and access to the main spinal unit physiotherapy fully equipped gymnasium, a hydrotherapy pool, computer training facilities, a school education programme as well as use of the sports facilities at a neighbouring sports centre.

Why do children with spinal cord injury need specialist care?

Spinal cord injury is a life-long condition and subsequently the affects can be far reaching and can change at various stages of the individual’s life. 

For the child and young person with spinal cord injury the additional changes influenced by growth will impact the child physically, socially, environmentally and emotionally. 

Once introduced to the paediatric team all these areas of need are addressed by the staff on St Francis ward by regular admissions for review until the young person is ready to transition seamlessly to adult spinal cord injury services. 

Activity

Since 1944 the NSIC has treated 910 individuals with paediatric onset spinal cord injury.  Currently there are 92 children with spinal cord injury receiving care and advice from our unit. 

Throughout 2012 St Francis ward housed and treated 89 children over 137 separate admissions. Included in this group we admitted and treated 21 new patients with paediatric onset spinal cord injury.  Additionally we are preparing 26 young people for transition to adult spinal cord injury services.

The results of a parent satisfaction survey carried out in 2003 and 2006 demonstrated that parent satisfaction had improved since the opening of a dedicated ward area for this patient group.

In 2008 the ward also conducted a MPOC-20 / family centred survey, the results demonstrated the unit treated the whole needs of the child as paramount - emotional, physical and educational.

Further to the response from our satisfaction surveys and in line with current management of children, in 2010 St Francis ward extended its services to include an additional four bedded area to treat adolescents up to the age of 19 years.

The future

We continue to value the input from all our children and their families regarding our services to allow us to develop our facilities further and always welcome suggestions for our future.

 

Useful contact information

Medical Lead:

Dr AllisonGraham - 01296 315851

Ward Manager:

Sister Sara O’Shea - 01296 315805 / 5806

NSIC Fax - 01296 315268

 

Please click here for our St Francis ward leaflet 

 

Spinal Paediatric Team

St Francis Ward

National Spinal Injuries Centre

Stoke Mandeville Hospital

Mandeville Road

Aylesbury

HP21 8AL