Children's accident and emergency patient information

Find out what to expect when you come to our children's accident and emergency department.

As a parent or caregiver, you should attend A&E with your child.

If you can, it is useful when visiting A&E to bring any medication your child uses, including creams and inhalers, and also your child’s ‘red book’.

On arrival, you will be asked to register and give details of contact numbers before being sent into the paediatric area.

Please note that we are a teaching hospital, so medical students may be present for some consultations. If you do not wish to have them in the room please let the nurse or doctor know and the students will be asked to step outside.

You and your child will initially be seen by a specialist children's A&E nurse who will ask a few questions about the injury or condition and take some observations, such as your child's temperature.

The nurse will then assess whether your child needs to be seen by our emergency department doctors or a GP or emergency nurse practitioner working in our urgent care centre that is provided by an external company Vocare. More unwell children or those with significant injuries are seen promptly in our A&E department by our specialist paediatric emergency medicine team.

Waiting times will vary due to the unpredictable nature of A&E. We work hard to see children as quickly as possible and prioritise those who are more unwell.

From the time your child is registered at A&E, we aim to see, treat and discharge them within four hours.

After an initial examination in our department your child may need to wait to be seen by a specialist doctor.

If any follow-up care is needed, the team seeing your child will inform you of this. This follow-up care may be with your own GP.