Community Children's Doctors

Who are we?

Community Paediatricians are specialist doctors with skills and knowledge in child health and development

We have expertise in neuro-disability. This means that we diagnose, support, manage and co-ordinate community care for children with a range of developmental, sensory and physical disabilities.

We work in consultant-led teams and liaise closely with professionals from other health disciplines (such as nurses or therapists) and agencies (such as social workers and teachers).

Our doctors lead in a number of county-wide expert services e.g. in the roles of:

• Designated Doctor for Child Protection
• Lead Doctor for Unexpected Child Deaths
• Designated Doctor for Looked after Children
• Medical Advisers for Adoption and Fostering
• Medical Advice for Education Health Care Plan (EHCP previously SEN)
• Lead Consultant for Child Development Centres
• Lead Consultant for the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme

We provide our services primarily to children whose GP is based in Telford & Wrekin or Shropshire County. We can support other children who are outside of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin area with prior arrangement with specific commissioners.

Our services

Our aim is to provide care as close to home as possible so our services are based in different parts of the county, for example:

• Outpatient clinics at Telford, Bridgnorth, Oswestry, Whitchurch, at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt and Ludlow Hospitals
• Outpatient clinics at the Stepping Stones Centre and Monkmoor Campus
• Specialist Child Development Centres based at Monkmoor and Malinslee
• Special schools such as the Bridge and Severndale
• Home visits (by exception only)

The people we see

Our service is for children and young people aged 0-18 years old but this extends to under 19 years for children in special schools.

We provide medical assessment and care for children with disabilities and complex or chronic health needs, including

• childhood neuro-disability
• developmental difficulties such as delay and dyspraxia
• cerebral palsy
• chromosome or syndrome disorders (e.g Down's syndrome)
• epilepsy
• feeding problems associated with developmental disorders
• autistic spectrum disorder in the under 5s
• day and night time wetting who have previously been assessed in the Nurse-led Enuresis Clinic
• specialist audiology services (hyperacusis and to investigate children with hearing loss)

New patients

We accept referrals from a wide range of health professionals working with children e.g GPs, other health professionals as well as hospital paediatricians, especially paediatric neurologists and neonatologists.

In order to be offered an appointment, someone must have referred you to our service, e.g. GP or other healthcare professional (you cannot self refer to this service).

Please be aware that a new patient appointment may take up to an hour.

Our statutory responsibilities require that we provide certain medical reports in very short time frames. Therefore, we need to know as soon as possible if you need to cancel your appointment so that we can try and offer you another one in time. However, there are often several children on the waiting lists so we cannot guarantee you will be next on the list.

We operate a Did Not Attend (DNA) policy, discharging patients when they fail to attend for their appointments. Some clinic appointments are only offered after you have responded to an initial invite letter.

Existing patients

You can expect to receive your follow up appointment letter at least 2-3 weeks before the scheduled clinic. On average appointments take 20-30 mins.

We operate a Did Not Attend (DNA) policy, discharging patients when they fail to attend. Some clinic appointments are only offered after you have responded to an initial invite letter.

Services we do not offer

We do not accept new referrals on children who are acutely ill or those likely to need hospital or in-patient based assessment or care.

We sometimes receive inappropriate referrals for the following conditions:

• behavioural issues - these should initially be referred to Family Connect for Telford (Tel 01952 385385) or Compass for Shropshire (Tel 345 678 9021)
  In children under 5 years in whom a medical or developmental cause for the behaviour is suspected we may offer an assessment but management of the problems is delivered through universal and primary care services.
• dyslexia - this is assessed by educational professionals
• obesity - services can be accessed through primary care (i.e. by seeing your GP) or help and advice can be found on our Keeping Healthy pages
• constipation - our Trust runs a children's constipation service

What you should bring with you

ALL children should be accompanied by a parent or guardian; if you wish to discuss matters without your child being present, please bring someone to sit with your child as there is usually no nurse assisting in clinic. Children issued with a Personal Child Health Record (red book) should bring this with them.

Please note we do not have the staff or facilities to look after your other children while you attend the appointment.

Frequently asked questions

Are you able to look after my child while I attend an appointment?

Please note we do not have the staff or facilities to look after your other children while you attend the appointment.

Are you able to tell me the results of investigations over the phone?

Please be aware that administrative staff are not permitted to give results of investigations out over the phone.

How long do new patient appointments take?

On average, a new patient appointment may take up to an hour.

I'm already a patient - how long will my appointment take?

On average appointments for current patients take 20-30 mins.

What type of assessments are performed by community paediatricians?

The assessments performed by community paediatricians can include:

• taking a thorough patient's history including medical, developmental, family and social aspects
• a clinical examination including height, weight, head circumference & physical examination as appropriate
• using objective standardised developmental assessment tools
• further investigations as appropriate
• organising on-going monitoring and therapy assessment
• onward referral to more specialist services as necessary and appropriate