The West Dorset Community Children’s Nursing Service

What service do we provide?

We are a community children’s nursing team based at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester. We aim to provide holistic, patient-centred care to children and young people in the community with a nursing need.

Services include

• Short-term conditions such as antibiotic therapy and wound care
• Long-term conditions such as home oxygen therapy and cardiac monitoring
• Complex needs that can be managed within the home setting
• End of life care in the community or Gully’s Place on Kingfisher Ward.

The locations we cover include

Postcodes DT1- DT11
We see children and young people (CYP) in the home, at school or on Kingfisher Ward.

Visits will be completed at a mutually convenient time with families.

Please note: Due to the nature of community visits and the distance covered within the locality, visits may be delayed unexpectedly. Please allow an additional 30 minutes from your agreed visit for CCN arrival. The team will aim to make you aware if the delay is longer than this. Last visits are usually 4pm. This will depend on distance and time taken to travel from CCN base.

We pride ourselves on keeping care in the community where possible. However, please be prepared to bring your child to the Kingfisher Ward depending on severity of need or team capacity.

Specialist services

• Our team additionally includes:
• Respiratory Nurse Specialist
• Epilepsy Nurse Specialists
• Allergy Nurse Specialist
• Neurodevelopmental Nurse Specialist
• Diabetes Nurse Specialists

How to make a referral

Referrals can be completed by consultants, GPs or nurse specialists. Please contact the team directly for a referral form.

Requirements for referral:

• CYP with a nursing need aged 0-17 years
• CYP must live within postcodes DT1-DT11
• CYP must be registered to a West Dorset GP practice
• CYP must be under the care of a Paediatrician within Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Contact numbers

We hope that you have found this information useful. If you have any questions, please contact us below:

Team office phone: 01305 254279
Team email address: ccndorchester@dchft.nhs.uk

Address:
Community Children’s Nursing Team,
The Children’s Centre
Dorset County Hospital
Dorchester
DT2 9UY

Working hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm (excluding bank holidays). Please note: We are NOT an emergency service.

We have an answerphone which is checked regularly during working hours.

If your contact is urgent, please contact the Paediatric Assessment Unit out of hours on 01305 254218 or Kingfisher Ward 01305 254253.

Useful websites

Wessex Healthier together: what0-18.nhs.uk
Dorset SEND local offer: www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/children-families/sen-and-disability-local-offer/dorsets-local-offer

Feedback

If you would like to give us feedback on our Paediatric Community or Specialist Nursing Service, please complete our patient related experience survey: https://dchft.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/paediatric-specialist-and-community-nurses-questionnaire

All responses will be treated anonymously and in the strictest confidence and only used to help us improve our service for patients.

About this leaflet

Author: Beth Maskell, Community Children’s Nurse Specialist Practitioner
Written: November 2022
Approved: March 2023
Review date: March 2026
Edition: v2

If you have feedback regarding the accuracy of the information contained in this leaflet, or if you would like a list of references used to develop this leaflet, please email patientinformation.leaflets@dchft.nhs.uk