Acute Paediatric Innovator Programme

The Care closer to home through virtual ward workstream aims to implement technology enabled virtual wards for children and young people with acute conditions.  Virtual wards (also known as hospital at home) allow patients to get the care they need at home safely and conveniently, rather than being in hospital. 

Health Technology Adoption and Acceleration Funding (HTAFF) has been secured to support the implementation of technology enabled paediatric virtual wards. 

The Rotherham Foundation Trust community paediatric nursing team will be piloting an admission avoidance, paediatric virtual ward for children with respiratory problems.  This will be delivered in partnership The Village Surgery. The pilot will use remote technology and a clinical dashboard to monitor patients as clinically appropriate.

Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust will be piloting a haematology-oncology paediatric virtual ward, using a step up / step down approach. This will start with 2 VW beds for Febrile Neutropenia and then expand to a total of four beds.  Further expansion may include palliative care pathways.

The SYB Acute Federation collectively aims to deliver healthcare services that work for young people and their families. Yet some of our current services present us with a gap for young people aged 14 up to 15 years, with a sharp shift from family-focused and multi-disciplinary appointments in child services to the expectation of an autonomous adult capable of self-management in adult services often from the age of 16 years.

This workstream is dedicated to bridging those historic gaps, through a developmentally approach to the delivery of healthcare for Young People. 

The South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Acute Federation and South Yorkshire Mental Health Learning Disability and Autism Provider Collaborative (MHLDA PC) have worked together to develop a vision and Statement of Intent designed to enable pathway improvement informed by national  recommendations, guidance and the voices of young people. You can view our Statement of Intent here.

The Improving access to Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) elective care workstream aims for access to ENT services for CYP to be easier and quicker. Waiting times for CYP requiring ENT intervention have been persistently high for several years and the Clinical Working Group (CWG) have been assessing demand and scoping options for a SYB Paediatric Elective Surgical Hub.  Our intention is to pilot this first for paediatric dental patients first and then if it proves successful, expand to ENT.

The aim of this workstream is for access to dental care for children to be easier and quicker. We hope to reduce waiting times for dental General Anaesthetic (GA) services with a focus on exodontia (tooth extractions) and comprehensive care (tooth extractions and restorative care).

Waiting times for CYP requiring dental intervention been persistently high for several years in SYB and we have some of the highest levels of tooth decay in children in the UK. 

By early 2025 we hope to have: 

• Launched the SYB Paediatric Elective Surgical Hub pilot
• Implemented standardised referral documentation and patient information 
• Launched the specialist paediatric dental workforce model 

If you have any questions or suggestions about the Paediatric Innovator Programme, you can contact the team on the details below: 

Gemma.hayden@nhs.net 
jaimie.shepherd1@nhs.net