The West Dorset Paediatric Respiratory Service

What service do we provide?

We are a muti-disciplinary team based at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester. We provide respiratory care for patients within West Dorset. We provide holistic care to children and young people in the community or hospital setting with a respiratory need.

Services include

• Cystic Fibrosis support
• Asthma support/ management
• Long term ventilation support
• Spirometry (breathing or lung function test)
• Tracheostomy.

Respiratory team

Our team includes:

• Respiratory Specialist Nurse Rebecca Holding
• Respiratory Highly Specialised Physio Gemma Marsh
• Paediatric Consultant Dr Verling

Locations

The locations we cover include:

Postcodes DT1- DT11.

We see children and young people (CYP) in the home, at school or in clinic.

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 the team’s arrival. The team will endeavour to make you aware if the delay is longer than this. 

We pride ourselves on keeping care in the community where possible.

However please be prepared to bring your child to clinic if this is not possible. Alternatively, you may be asked to bring your child to the assessment unit if a test is thought to be necessary.

How to make a referral

Referrals can be completed by medical staff both locally or regionally. Please contact the team directly for a referral form.

Requirements for referral:

• CYP with a respiratory need aged 0-17 years
• CYP must live within postcodes DT1-DT11
• 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
Respiratory nurse – 01305 254279 or email rebecca.holding@dchft.nhs.uk
Respiratory physio – 01305 254744 or email gemma.marsh@dchft.nhs.uk

Address
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. If your contact is urgent, please contact the Paediatric Assessment Unit out of hours on 01305 254218 or Kingfisher Ward 01305254253.                                                                                                        

Useful websites

Wessex Healthier Together
https://what0-18.nhs.uk

Feedback

Patient and family feedback is extremely important to our service, we value hearing from you: https://dchft.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/paediatric-specialist-and-community-nurses-questionnaire

About this leaflet

Authors: Rebecca Holding, Paediatric Respiratory Nurse
Written: January 2023
Approved and updated: March 2025
Review date: March 2028
Edition: 2  

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