Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow

Meet Janine and Louise, our Trauma And Orthopaedic Team who Supported Over 2800 Families Last Year

These two incredible people are the single point of contact for parents and carers when their child has been in an accident that involves fractures and breaks and were recently awarded Team of the Year at the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Women and Children Awards.

“We touch every part of the care involved, and that extends to the social aspect and supporting the parents with what they need while the child is in hospital or afterward. An example of this is, with the consent from families, we share information with schools to ensure a safe transition back for the child. This is to ensure their social and educational needs are safely met,” Janine

A family that sings the praises of Janine and Louise, are parents, Fiona and Howard from Bishopbriggs.

Fiona and Howard met the liaison team following an incident with their daughter, Georgia, while on holiday late last year.

Georgia was enjoying a horse-riding lesson on a scenic Stornoway beach when she fell and, painfully, the horse trampled on her leg. The outcome was a nasty break and, following excellent assessment and care at Stornoway’s Accident and Emergency, surgeons made the decision that due to the severity of Georgia’s break, she required the attention of the National Trauma Centre at RHC.

“After Georgia was triaged, treated for pain, and x-rayed in Stornoway, the information was shared with the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow who requested further scans including a CT to determine the severity and if surgery was required. It was at this point the RHC Trauma and Orthopaedic Team stepped in. There was no delay in them calling us to explain what was going on, how Georgia’s care would be transferred over to them, and what we could expect the next steps to be.

“We were nervous about what would happen when we reached Glasgow but were emotional to see that the Trauma and Orthopaedic Team was there waiting to greet us. They knew our names, they had plans in place, and the doctors were assigned to Georgia’s case. Janine asked Georgia’s mum what she personally needed, and she responded, ‘a hug’. That’s what she received. A huge cuddle for a mum who was worried about her daughter made us relax and feel safe in their care.

“Janine and Louise were also amazing at giving Georgia the social interaction that she needed to keep going. They knew exactly what to say to her when they could see her become sad or anxious.

“They made sure things happened when they were supposed to and how they were supposed while also having an interest in our mental state and wellbeing. They removed our fears and helped our daughter, and for that we are incredibly grateful to them and to all the clinicians and surgeons for their support.”

Happy Father’s Day to all of our incredible hospital families and NHS Hero’s

To help celebrate, the children have been making gifts and crafts throughout the week to give to someone special with the help of the Play Team

Whether you are spending your day in hospital with a loved one, or working to look after others, we hope you all have a great day

With special thanks to Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity for their continued support and funding surrounding the activities and treats for days like today

Yesterday we were sad to say goodbye to Patrick Noonan, Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist, as he is moving back to Australia.

"I started here in 2013, it was my first ever consultant job. With any job, there are things you like and things you dislike, but the main thing I love about working here are the people. We have a fantastic team, from the ward staff, the nursing staff, allied health professionals, doctors - everyone makes it a fantastic place to work. I'm moving back to Queensland in Brisbane, which is my home and will be doing the same job over there.

I'll miss working here and the team. I'll also miss Glasgow, although I won't miss the weather, Scotland is a beautiful place, I'll miss that aspect of it." Patrick

The team will all be sad to see him leave, with many saying "Our loss, is Brisbane's gain"

Good luck in Australia Patrick, you are welcome back any time and thank you for everything you have done for our cardiac families over the last eleven years 🫶

Our wee Braveheart's are all cheering for the Scotland National Team 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

After having major heart surgery at 12 days old, Albert is going to be supporting the team with his family in our Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Albert was successfully extubated earlier today, meaning that he was taken off of his ventilator, just in time to watch the Scotland National Team take on their first UEFA EURO 2024 match with his family 💙🤍

Out amazing team in PICU helped get Albert ready for tonight's game, decorating his bed and making him a special T-shirt 🫶

Our young patients made the Scotland National Team cards and posters to take with them to Germany when they visited the hospital - thank you for proudly displaying them in your meeting rooms 🫶

We are still so grateful you took the time to visit our hospital families before the competition - we are all behind you 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙🤍

UEFA EURO 2024

We promised to take them to Germany, and here they are – pride of place outside our team meeting rooms.

Thank you once again to the children of Glasgow Children's Hospital who drew these amazing good luck cards and drawings for us 💙

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Linda, the ‘heart of CDU (clinical decisions unit)’ retired yesterday after thirty years of working for the children’s hospital.

Senior Staff Nurse, Linda Bleasdale has been a paediatric nurse for 30 years, and today she retired.

“The best thing about my role is the families and the staff. The families and staff are amazing, it’s been an absolute privilege and pleasure to look after every single person that has come through the doors.

I’m looking forward to kicking off retirement watching the Scotland National Team winning the Euro’s” 💙🤍 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Linda

Linda is known on the department for being a massive Scotland National Team fan. She had a season ticket before she was born and has never missed a game. Sadly due to personal circumstances she was unable to travel to Germany to support the team, but is looking forward to celebrating from home.

“Linda was the glue that holds CDU together. Linda loved to play pranks on people and really enjoyed telling really corny dad jokes. She is such an uplifting person and a real character. Linda loved cleaning and was just really good fun to be on shift with.

We all call her Granny B, she looked after the team making sure everyone had their tea break before her, she is a true legend. The families all loved her, it’s really hard to put into words how much we will miss her. Linda is a dedicated member of the Tartam Army and loves John McGinn. She always buys her grandkids all the new strips and takes them to the games, she really is Scotland mad.” The CDU Team

Today marks the end of ❤

We want to say a heartfelt thank you to each and every person who dedicates their free time helping our young patients and their families.

Each of our selfless volunteers across the multiple charities who support the Royal Hospital for Children, not only dedicate time within the hospital but also at events, other premises, driving and delivering equipment and fundraising.

To all of the volunteers who help contribute to the amazing work in the hospital, we can't say thank you enough 🫶

Special thanks to Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity who helped support this week with balloons in our atrium and arts & crafts for the children.

What is a dietitian?

Dietitians are qualified and regulated health professionals that assess, diagnose and treat dietary and nutritional problems at an individual and wider public-health level.

It's and we want to say a massive thank you to our incredible team who help care for our young patients every day. This is just some of our incredible team who are spread across the campus covering a range of different paediatric specialities.

What matters to you, matters to us ✨

Today we are celebrating What Matters To You? and the importance of asking what is important to our young patients.

"Asking this simple question allows the hospital team to have an understanding of what matters to the patient on a personal level. It is an excellent resource for the team to use when they are communicating with the children and their families, and can help significantly for non-verbal children or for times when a parent or carer is not present. can help with conversations and for keeping the child's mind off of any up and coming treatments or medical discussions.

It's a great way for a child to express their feelings, and gives us an understanding of things that we may not realise about the child or family. These conversations can also help inform decisions about a person’s health and care." Jane, Health Play Specialist & What Matters to You Hospital Champion.

Each of our young patients has a board displayed in their rooms, proudly showing what matters to them. Today, thanks to the help of our Play Team, they all have colourful posters and personally designed t-shirts, helping show-off everything that matters to them. The T-shirts were kindly funded by Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity.

We were also delighted to have the staff share what matters to them and have it displayed in our atrium today, thanks to the Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity volunteers for helping with this today.

"Thank you to the children, families and staff for their fantastic efforts surrounding WMTY today. It is extremely important to heart from everyone on what is important to them and give everyone a voice to be heard.

It was lovely to see the participation of the children and families stopping in the atrium today to, colouring in pictures and filling in WMTY slips for the display. It was a really warm and positive atmosphere hearing everyone chat and engage with the volunteers at the stand" Mandy, Chief Nurse.

Let us know what matters to you below 👇

After 6 months in hospital, baby Millie is home 🫶

Millie was just two weeks old when she was admitted to the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow on the 30th of November 2023 with a cardiac condition called coarctation of the aorta.

Mum, Emma, dad, Ross, and brother, Harris were delighted to be reunited as a family of four last week following Millie's multiple health challenges the last six months.

Emma and Ross not only wanted to celebrate Millie getting home, but to thank the main consultants who helped contribute to Millie's care; Cardiac Surgeon, Professor Danton, ENT Surgeon Mr Mathew Ellis, and Cardiac Consultant, Dr Lindsey Hunter.

The family were told that the combination of Millie’s abnormalities with her aorta were very rare, and it led to a 3D model of her heart being built and discussions with health professionals across the country. Millie had her heart surgery on the 19th of December 2023, and spent 19 hours in theatre.

“We are so grateful to all the staff that looked after all of us since we have been here. There are far too many to mention individually, and we feel like we owe her main consultants so much. They have given her the best life she could have. If it wasn’t for her cardiac surgery Millie wouldn’t be here with us today. There are not enough words to describe how thankful we are,” Mum, Emma

Read the families full journey here:

www.nhsggc.scot/baby-millie-finally-home-after-six-months-at-the-royal-hospital-for-children/

We are looking forward to welcoming you to our Summer Garden Party in July ☀️ for face painting, a bouncy castle, food, drinks and much more! Kindly sponsored by Vegware

Entry is free! Register to attend here to receive updates and reminders 🙂
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/summer-garden-party-tickets-918711539947

Has your child been treated in any of the Neonatal Units in Glasgow?

The Neonatal Units of Greater Glasgow and Clyde invites all patients, past and present, and their families to their annual reunion party on the 11th of June

This event is kindly supported and organised by Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity and our incredible Neonatal teams

www.glasgowchildrenshospitalcharity.org/neonatal-reunion-day/

Good luck to two of our amazing staff who are cycling from London to Amsterdam🚴‍♀️

Janice and Ang started their 400 mile cycle today, and will cycle to Amsterdam over the next four days to raise money for Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity.

"Ang and I both work in the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow and we see first hand the huge difference that the Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity makes to the lives of every baby, child and young person treated at Scotland's largest children's hospital. They ensure that every family receives the extra special care they deserve." Janice

Janice and Ang will cycle with another 16 patient family members who also want to give back to the hospital and charity. The team will meet with five other children’s hospitals from across the UK too.

Good luck to all of the team taking part in this incredible challenge 👏

You can help support Janice and Ang here:

www.justgiving.com/page/janice-heggie-1714069981263

This week is

"We will highlight some areas throughout this week to help get us all thinking about how we can keep our children safe" The Major Trauma Team

For more info see: capt.org.uk/child-safety-week/ Child Accident Prevention Trust

“For us, the kids are our inspiration, and hopefully we can do them proud in two weeks time” John McGinn

Today we were delighted to be visited by the Scotland National Team before they travel to Germany in a few weeks

Our young patients made them special cards and posters to take with them to the competition, filled with well-wishes and good luck messages

Thank you so much to the squad for taking the time to visit our hospital families 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and thank you to everyone involved, who helped organise and carry out this special visit including our partner charity Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity

On the 25th of April, Rory celebrated his -versary, following his cardiac surgery in April 2023

"We found out at our 20 week scan that Rory had CHD we were quickly referred to RHC where we met with a range of specialists and it was decided Rory would be delivered in Glasgow, as he would likely need help in the Neonatal Unit RHC Glasgow to begin with.

Rory was born at 35 weeks after a mad dash down in an ambulance from Inverness on Hogmanay. Rory was born at 0108 on the 1st January 2022. Rory was the first baby born in the QUEH in 2022. He was very quickly put onto CPAP and taken to the neonatal department. We got to meet him properly a few hours later.

After a few days of testing Rory’s diagnosis was confirmed. Left atrial isomerism which had resulted in 6 heart defects. Transposition of the great arteries, double outlet right ventricle, VSD (hole), pulmonary stenosis, right aortic arch and interrupted inferior vena cava. Left atrial isomerism can also cause problems with other organs and in Rory’s case he had a bowel malrotation, multiple spleens and two left lungs.

Rory was very stable but struggled with feeding so after two weeks in Glasgow NICU he was flown closer to home and was transferred to Raigmore SCBU. After another week of working on feeding we got to take Rory home for a week before we had to return to Glasgow for a bowel operation to correct the malrotation.

Handing Rory over on his due date, our tiny 5lb baby was incredibly difficult but the amazing theatre team helped put us at ease. Seeing Rory in PICU after is something we could never have been prepared for but the team once again were amazing. After two days Rory was back on the ward and after a week we once again got to go home.

We had multiple clinic visits to Glasgow and a few admissions onto 1E over Rory’s first year. Rory had a CT scan and a model had been made of his heart to help his team come up with a surgery plan.

We returned to RHC last April when Rory was 15 months old for him to have his heart surgery. We met the surgeon Prof Danton the day before to sign consent and when the next morning came we handed our little boy over to the amazing theatre staff once again helping us after finding it incredibly difficult watching him going to sleep.

We wandered aimlessly for the rest of the day waiting for a call when it finally came early evening. Rory was back in PICU where we met the incredible surgeon again who had managed a rastelli repair for Rory’s heart.

We had a very rocky week following surgery but the amazing team in PICU could not have done more for our boy and ourselves. We made it back onto the ward for a few days before being discharged after only two weeks.

Rory has come on leaps and bounds following surgery. Learning to walk and at the start of this year he started nursery for a few hours a week. He is one determined and stubborn little character but I think his this has a lot to do with how he has got through his first hard 18 months of life.

Rorys heart will never be “fixed” and he will need further intervention later in childhood but for now he is your average two year old and we couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who has been involved in his care so far." Mum, Sophie

www.nhsggc.scot/the-qeuhs-first-baby-of-2022-celebrates-his-heart-versary/

The cardiac nurse specialist team are delighted to be in the atrium today raising awareness for Cardiac conditions

“Approximately 30 babies are born every month with a heart defect in Scotland. The Scottish Paediatric Cardiac Service provides care here at RHC, for a variety of cardiac conditions diagnosed in childhood as well as highlighting the patient journey and amazing bravery our patients show.” Carla, Cardiac Nurse Specialist

Please stop and say hello to the team 🫀

Thank you to Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity for their help with the stand today

Meet Kayden, who is 1 year 5 months old. He was born on the 8th of December 2022 with CHD Unbalanced Atrioventricular Septal Defect (AVSD) aortic arch.

“I found out at my 20 week scan that Kayden had a heart defect. Within one week, I was seen at fetal medicine in the QEUH where they gave me the devastating news. I was heartbroken and had never heard of this before. After multiple scans and meetings with the team, it was clear that Kayden would need he would need a 3 stage procedure - Norwood, Glenn and Fontan Procedure.

Kayden had a very complex heart and at just 5 days old born by C-section at 38+6 weeks was flown to a single ventricle centre in London where he had his first open heart surgery at 11days old. Kayden became unwell just 24hours after surgery and had suffered a cardiac arrest. The team took me aside and explained it was best to put him on ECMO to give his heart a break. After a few days he was able to come off and get his chest closed on Christmas day.

A day so special to most, but I was struggling as my older son Kian was back in Scotland with my parents.

Days felt like weeks, weeks felt like months and eventually we were out of PICU and on the cardiac ward February 23. There was talk about getting back to Glasgow however there was issues with beds and transport. Kayden was doing well and was off all oxygen it was just a case of waiting. Fast forward to 15th February Kayden became poorly again and had 25 hours of seizures where he was taken for CT scans and back into PICU where he was put on the ventilator again, the world had turned upside down again! Kayden had suffered a stroke, and I was told they never knew what the future would hold for him. It was a case of waiting and seeing what he would be like.

31st March 23 Scot Star flew to London and transferred us back to Glasgow, that was some experience, I was petrified on that small plane.

Kayden spent 1 month on ward 1E where my family were able to come and meet Kayden properly and I was reunited with Kian. It was the happiest days being back as a family.

Cardiac liaison nurses prepared us for 'home' somewhere where we never thought we would be! We were taught about the home monitoring programme where we do daily stats and weights. We were also CPR trained and how to administer medications as well as injections twice a day.

Kayden has been a little superstar throughout this whole journey and we are so proud of him. Our little warrior. We have spent months in and out for appointments and hospital stays but have been making so many memories at home and little breaks away. He also celebrated his first birthday at home.

Kayden was scheduled for his Glenn procedure on the 15th of January 2024, however on 24th December he was admitted to RHC with high temp and low oxygen. On Christmas day he had 2 unresponsive episodes and spent nearly 2 months in PICU, he was very poorly.

Professor Danton and his cardiologist team took Kayden to theatre on 23rd January to do his Glenn procedure, however his pulmonary artery was too small and they enlarged his shunt with the hopes they can try again in a few months’ time.
We are back home again and celebrated Christmas on Valentine’s Day. Kayden had learned how to crawl, and now there is no stopping him. He loves his food and is still NG fed overnight on a continuous feed for 12 hours. He us just amazing, everyone loves him. He loves waving and giving thumbs up to everyone saying hello.

Lastly I'd like to thank you all for reading Kayden’s story so far, we will continue our CHD journey.

I'd also like to thank all of the amazing staff and families for their love and care in our hospital stays. Our CHD family” Mum, Shannon

The Pre-assessment Service is a small team who make a big impact in our young patients journeys

"Our vision is to see every child or young person going for an elective procedure under anaesthetic and to do this we need YOU 🫵

We are recruiting Band 6 Nurse Practitioners and a Band 3 HCSW

Our new Band 6 will work autonomously and will require recognised competence in Physical/clinical assessment or be prepared to undertake further education.

We look forward to having you in our team" Stephanie

Find our more information about our Pre-assessment service here:

rhc.nhsggc.org.uk/home/coming-into-rhc-glasgow/directory-of-services/pre-assessment-service/

For more information on the posts coming soon, please email:
[email protected]

This week we have been helping to raise awareness of what an incredible job the different teams within RHC do to care for our young patients who have a tracheostomy.

To conclude the week, we want to celebrate the teams based on the third floor of the hospital, the Ward 3A Team and our Long Term Ventilation Team 🫶

"The ward 3A staff are highly skilled in tracheostomy care and do a great job supporting the families at the start of their tracheostomy journey as well as when the time comes for the tracheostomy to be removed. Joyce and Emma - the complex airway nurses would like to thank the staff in 3A for their hard work and dedication." Team 3A (photo 1)

“Our Long Term Ventilation Team allows children who traditionally would have been stuck in hospital to go home and lead as normal a life as possible. These children need tracheostomy’s because they are attached to ventilators. We have a community based team caring for the patients throughout Scotland.

The community team can’t do that without our input, the main workforce of this team aren’t in this photo. There are around fifty Ventilation Support Workers who are so important to being able to allow our patients to be at home. We work with them and help train them to allow them to go into the families homes each day, allowing the children to go off to school and university. It allows people to go home and be safe.” LTV Team (photo 2)

“When Finn was born, straight away I could see some abnormalities, when he arrived he was immediately whisked away by the medical team, so straight away I knew something was wrong.

A few hours later I was advised Finn would be admitted to Neonatal Unit RHC Glasgow. The team comforted me and advised everything would be ok, but told me Finn was on a ventilator. They thought at this time Finn had Apert Syndrome, and they would need to do some tests.

It was such a shock to us, I didn’t know anything about the syndrome, and at that point had no idea it compromised his airways.

I was called into a meeting with the team to be told there was an issue with his airway, and that Finn would need a tracheostomy because his nasal passage was blocked by bone because of the fusion on his facial bones. Our world was flipped upside down in the matter of seconds. I remember driving home and just bursting into tears, thinking I can’t do this. It was so intimidating being told all of the information, and it hit me like a tonne of bricks. Through it all though, the love for Finn didn’t change.

Finn had the operation to get his tracheostomy at 8 days old.

We were told we would need fully trained before we were able to take Finn home. I was so worried about how life would be and what it would be like, how it would affect Finn’s siblings, Coleen, Aiden and Kye.

Joyce and Sylvia started to train me, I couldn’t have gotten through it without them, I couldn’t have asked for two better people to train myself and Finn’s dad, Kevin. Before leaving the hospital, I had to spend three full days in NICU and then after 4 and a half months, we finally got discharged home.

At first I watched him like a hawk, it changed everything about our lives. Finn needs 24 hour care and at the time Kevin and I were the only ones trained in his care, so there were hard times, worrying about how we were going to manage.

Slowly and surely things started to turn around, things became easier as Finn was reaching each milestone. It’s now about how we adapt things to suit Finn’s needs and take our own path to whatever we are planning. When my mum, Alison, felt ready, she got trained in Finn’s care and plays such a large part in his life.

Finn is thriving in nursery, he has a lovely group of friends and has the biggest smile when he’s there.

My other kids have now built a lot of life skills, they all asked how to help with the suction for Finn. They don’t treat Finn any different, and Coleen is asking to help support with Finn’s care. Coleen now wants to be a neonatal nurse because of everything she has learned from caring for Finn and has picked her subjects for her last year at school based on a nursing university course. Finn’s siblings love their brother to pieces and are so good with him.

There’s been so many emotions with Finn, we were once called as the team didn’t think he was going to make it through the night, to now see him coming out the other side and becoming this strong character, it’s so rewarding.
Life with a tracheostomy does get better, there is light at the end of the tunnel.” Mum, Marcelle