Service Detail

Provides evidence-based medical assessment and intervention for children and young people to enable them to achieve their optimum health and reduce the impact of illness on their health and wellbeing.

Address: Paybody Building, CV1 4FS
Reception hours: Monday – Friday 08:00-17:00. Please leave a message after these hours, leaving your name, contact number, and a short message and our admin team will call you back. Please note: We are not an emergency service.
Reception phone number: 024 7696 1092

About us

Telephone number: 024 7696 1092
Referral Criteria: Health Professional

Community Paediatricians provide specialist care for children and young people. We also carry out a range of duties in relation to child protection, medical advice for special educational needs, and health assessments of children in care. The role of the paediatrician involves prevention, identification, assessment, diagnosis, treatment and support. Community paediatricians are also closely networked with many other health professionals.

Our hours of service are 9am -5pm, Monday to Friday.

For more information on the specific services we offer, please download this PDF or watch our video:

Community Paediatrics Services.pdf[pdf] 59KB

WHO DO WE SEE?

We see children and young people aged 0-16 years of age. There are certain groups of young people who may be referred to our service up to 18 years of age.

This includes:

Children with special educational Needs
Looked After Children
Children referred for an assessment of alleged NAI (suspected physical abuse)
Children referred for assessment of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Head injury/rehabilitation

Young people who have a learning disability may be referred to our service up to 19 years of age.

Usually we see patients who are registered with a Coventry GP. Exceptions to this include:

Looked After Children
Referrals for the epilepsy /neurology service
Referrals for a Second opinion

WHO DON’T WE SEE?

Unfortunately we are not able to see the following children and young people:

Children and young people who are acutely unwell and who need to be seen urgently should be seen by their GP or the relevant emergency services.
General Paediatric problems without any concerns regarding developmental progress or other vulnerabilities should usually be referred to the General Paediatricians at UHCW.
Children who require specialist cardiology, oncology or respiratory treatment should be referred to the appropriate specialist Paediatric services at UHCW. Children and young people who require treatment for TB should be referred to the appropriate Public health services.
Concerns about hearing and vision should be referred to the Hearing Centre at UHCW and Paediatric Ophthalmology at UHCW.
Children and young people with enuresis should be initially referred to the nurse-led continence service in accordance with the service referral criteria. Specialist Paediatric assessment and support to the continence service is for specific groups of children and young people with continence difficulties.
Children and young people with Dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties without any other concerns of underlying difficulties should be assessed within their educational environment by Educational Psychology.
Children and young people Speech and Language difficulties, where other development is normal should be referred to Speech and Language Therapy in accordance with the service referral criteria.
Children and young people with minor gait or postural abnormalities, where other development is normal, should be referred to Physiotherapy in accordance with the service referral criteria.

Referrals

Referrals are accepted from GPs, Health Visitors, School Nurses, Allied Health Professionals, Paediatricians, CAMHS medical staff, other health professionals. Social care and education where appropriate.

If you have questions about your referral please contact the department on: 024 7696 1092. The Child or young person’s GP should always be informed in writing if a referral is being made to a Community Paediatrician and we assume that this has been done when we accept a referral.

Referrals should be sent to:

We are phasing out post and E-Fax referrals, therefore referrals should be sent to the Community Paediatrics email address: communitypaeds@covwarkpt.nhs.uk. Referrals for Community Paediatrics should be sent to this email, and they will be triaged by a Consultant.

Please note: Our service does not accept urgent referrals.

Emergency referrals for Child Protection:(Monday-Friday 9am-5pm) contact Admin Support. Tel: 024 76 96 1417
(Out of hours 5pm-9am, Weekends, Bank Holidays) Contact: UHCW Switchboard for on-call Paediatric service: 024 7696 4000

For Regional Sexual Assault Service (PSAS) contact the Glade PSAS (for historic referrals) 01886 833 555 (option 2)
For acute referrals/ Specialist advice is via G4S 0800 953 4133 (of note medicals are arranged in liaison with social care and the police)

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE NEED FROM THE PERSON MAKING A REFERRAL?

Child and family details
The nature of the problem with examples of difficulties
How long the problem has been apparent
What has been done so far to address the problem. For school age children please attach any relevant IEPs (Individual Education Plans) or school reports.
How the problem is impacting on the child or young person in his/her environment
Outcomes of previous developmental assessments including those completed by the health visitor.
Child In Need plan or information dealing previous input from services from the local authority. A referral may be redirected or you may be asked to signpost to other appropriate services such as Early Help, ERIC, RISE, Dimensions, Cerebra, for information. We cannot accept Paediatric referrals which are for UHCW as referrals for UHCW should go through Choose and Book.
The Community Paediatric Service may request additional information from the child’s school, if the school hasn’t already completed it as part of the referral
For specific areas of difficulty, you may be asked to complete a checklist before the child is seen for assessment
Confirmation that the referral has been discussed with the child or young person’s carer.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER A REFERRAL HAS BEEN MADE?

All referrals will be acknowledged by the Community Paediatric admin team to the referrer/parents/carers/GP.
Referrals will be reviewed by the Community Paediatric Service who will contact the referrer if further information is required or if the referral does not fulfil the referral criteria.
Sometimes a referral may be forwarded to another service where appropriate. The referrer and parents/carers/GP will be notified if this happens. We cannot redirect referrals to UHCW due to referrals going through the Choose and Book System.
Parents/carers/young people will receive a letter giving them information on their appointment.

Your Appointment

WHERE DO WE SEE CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES?

We usually meet with children, young people and families in a clinic setting. This may be on the 4^th Floor of the City of Coventry Health Centre, or in one of the special schools in the city. Occasionally we may meet with you in joint clinics at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire or in other settings across the West Midlands. Where appropriate we may offer a remote consultation either by telephone or virtual link which will be determined by the clinician.

We care for you in partnership with other services in the City. Sometimes we will see you in clinic together with other doctors or nurses or with professionals from Education or Social care. Occasionally, in special circumstances we may visit children and young people at home.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO BRING TO AN APPOINTMENT?

Your Paediatrician will need to get to know you and learn about you to understand how to treat you. They will need to ask you and those who care for you about your birth, your growth, your development, your family, your school and any problems you are having with your body, your emotions or your behaviour.

If you have any written information that will help, please bring it with you to your appointment. Good examples would be:

Your Red Book
Previous clinic letters and results of any tests especially if you have seen a doctor somewhere else
If you have difficulty with walking, seeing, hearing or communicating, please bring any mobility, sensory or communication aids with you to clinic.
Please let us know if you need an interpreter.
Please come prepared with any questions you would like to ask.
Your Paediatrician may need to listen to your heart, feel your tummy, see you walking in bare feet or examine other parts of your body. Please come prepared for this. Loose clothing may be helpful and reduce the need to remove clothing.

It is important that children and young people can learn to express their own health needs. It is our normal practice to offer children and young people the opportunity to meet with doctors on their own as well as with those who care for them.

HOW LONG DOES AN APPOINTMENT LAST?

A first appointment may last up to 1 hour. Please check the ‘pay and display’ parking arrangements at the City of Coventry Health Centre. Subsequent review appointments will usually be shorter. The time may vary according to the type of clinic you are attending. This will usually be 30 minutes or less. Exceptions to this would include: attendance at Looked After Children Health Assessments, and attendance for MDT clinics such as Spasticity clinic.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOUR FIRST APPOINTMENT?

Your GP always remains central to your care. After your appointment, you will receive a letter that summarises your discussions with your Paediatrician, any examination findings and your agreed next steps. This letter will represent your ‘Care Plan’. This letter will be addressed to you and those who care for you. Your GP will be sent a copy. You may also receive written material and signposting to other support services including websites and digital information regarding your health needs including health promotion material.

Next steps may include:

A care plan that may or may not include interventions and/or investigations followed by a follow up (review) appointment with your paediatrician
A care plan that may or may not include interventions and/or investigations and discharge back to your GP with no further appointment with a Paediatrician
A care plan that may or may not include interventions and/or investigations, referral to other specialist services and followed by a follow up (review) appointment with your paediatrician
A care plan that may or may not include interventions and/or investigations, referral to other specialist services and discharge back to your GP with no further appointment with a Paediatrician.

The duration between your first appointment and your follow up appointment will depend upon your agreed Care Plan.

WHEN WILL YOU LEAVE (BE DISCHARGED) FROM THE COMMUNITY PAEDIATRIC SERVICE?

You will be discharged from the Community Paediatric service when your health issue has been resolved or when an appropriate shared or self-care programme has been fully implemented.

At times, you may be discharged after referral to another service which is more appropriate to manage your health needs.

Children who are Looked after will continue to be seen for health assessments whilst they remain Looked After. Review health assessments for looked After children will normally be with a Looked After Children’s nurse.

Children with complex needs may remain under Community Paediatric care until they reach the age of admission to adult services. Young people moving from Paediatric services to adult services will be supported with a transition process which may include attendance at a dedicated transition clinic.

Failure of carers to bring children to health appointments may be an indicator of underlying safeguarding issues.

Carers who repetitively do not bring their children and young people to appointments may expect the Community Paediatric service to demonstrate a professional curiosity in partnership with other services to safeguard children in accordance with CWPT WNB/DNA policy. Repetitive non-attendance at clinic appointments may result in discharge from the Community Paediatric Service.