Oncology and haematology

All our patients are under the care of a Consultant Paediatric Oncologist or a Consultant Paediatric Haematologist. These are doctors who specialise in the treatment of solid cancers or leukaemia.

Junior doctors will join and leave the medical team as part of their training.

Nursing staff

The nurses are specialised in children’s nursing and oncology/haematology. The Nursing Team will have number of student nurses who are at various stages of their training.

Every patient is allocated a nurse for each shift who will work several different shifts. Each shift begins with a handover period, this is when the nurses get together to discuss the care of all the patients.

Key Workers

All patients are allocated a Key Worker at a multidisciplinary meeting (MDT). An MDT meeting is when staff come together to agree on diagnosis and a treatment plan. The Key Worker is a senior nurse or other healthcare professional.

The Key Worker will introduce themselves to the patient and their family and will provide their contact details. They stay in regular contact with their patients throughout treatment and arrange additional support nearer to home if it is needed.

Advanced Nurse Practitioners

Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) have undertaken additional training which includes clinical assessment skills and prescribing. They carry out patient examinations, and general health checks, order investigations, prescribe medications, and make appointments and plans of care. Patients who come to Alder Hey for chemotherapy, attend Day Care or some clinics will see an ANP. They follow patients all the way through their treatment, so the care is consistent and tailored to a patient’s needs. They help to ensure that care is of the highest possible standard and those patients and families are kept informed throughout treatment.

ANPs work 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday and are available to answer queries from patients, families, local hospitals, or community staff. You can call them on 0151 252 5799.

Children and Young Person’s Oncology Outreach Nurse Specialists

The Children and Young Persons Oncology Outreach Nurse Specialists (CYPOONS) are a team of nurses with specialist knowledge and experience in children and young person’s cancer. Every child or young person is allocated a CYPOON who will work closely with them and their family to provide specialist care, advice and support.

There are two CYPOONS teams based at Alder Hey caring for children being treated here. One team covers the Merseyside and Cheshire area and the Isle of Man. The other team works in partnership with local services for patients living outside of the above areas.

CYPOONS Contact details

Alder Hey: 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (answerphone out of hours) – 0151 252 5408

North Wales: Families will be given contact details by their CLIC nurse

Dietitians

Our oncology unit has a dedicated dietetic service which specializes in the nutritional management of children and young people who have cancer.  They offer both inpatient and outpatient support and are available throughout your child’s treatment journey.

Most children and young people with cancer will experience problems with eating and drinking at some stage. Eating well during treatment is important as this helps children cope better with treatment, fight infection and maintain normal growth and development.

A dietitian can provide advice regarding: 

•    Managing common side effects of treatment such as nausea, taste changes, constipation, diarrhoea and sore mouth.

•    Managing fussy eating or a poor appetite

•    Use of prescription high-calorie drinks when appetite is poor

•    Managing tube feeding in the hospital and at home 

•    Minimizing excessive weight gain during steroid treatment

•    Transitioning back to healthy eating once intense treatment has finished.

•    Any other nutritional concerns you have

The dietitian is available from Monday to Friday 9am-5pm. An answer machine service is available for non-urgent messages.  If you would like to see the dietitian please ask your nurse or doctor to make a referral.

Ward 3B at Alder Hey has its own kitchen and two chefs to support patients during their stay. Our chefs will:

Take food orders for patients between 11.30am and 6pm. The last order for Day Care patients is 3.30pm.

Prepare a meal for one parent or carer in the inpatient ward. Please note there is a charge for this service.

Our chefs cannot prepare food that has been brought to the ward by parents or carers.

Each day there are snack rounds for patients on the ward. Patients on supplements can receive a feed or supplement and other patients are offered a drink (juice, milkshake) and fruit or a biscuit.

This service provides an outreach service for young people diagnosed with cancer who are aged16 to 24 and are treated in Liverpool and Merseyside adult’s hospitals. They provide support to young people who are aged 18 at diagnosis and treated at Alder Hey as part of the Teenage and Young Adult’s Merseyside & Cheshire Multi-disciplinary team.

Play is a physical and mental activity which gives emotional satisfaction and develops communication skills. Play is extremely important for children of all ages but sometimes our patients may lack the will or ability to create suitable play activities for themselves.

Some children develop changes in their behaviour during treatment. Play provided by specialists is important to patients and their families in preparing, supporting, recognising and understanding their needs during and after treatment.

Play Specialists can provide therapeutic play activities for children of all ages and abilities. Activity and play programmes are structured to allow children and young adults to talk about their feelings and express any fears that they may have. Therapies such as relaxation techniques can be used with great effect alongside pain therapy to maximise relief and reduce anxiety. These are all useful techniques which may be appropriate during painful or unpleasant procedures. Play Specialists work in partnership with other members of the multi-disciplinary team to bridge the gap between hospital and home.

Ward 3B has two Play Specialists and one Play Assistant who provide and supervise play activities for all patients from 8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. 8.30am -5:00pm. Please note when they are available Play Specialists from Ward 3B can provide therapeutic input to our patients on other wards but cannot provide play activities.

Beads of Courage

The Beads of Courage Programme is a new concept being introduced in Alder Hey and other hospitals in the UK. It is designed to support children going through their treatment. It allows them to tell their story using colourful beads. The beads are used as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate different milestones such as blood transfusions, bone marrow transplants, hospital stays, chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments. Their beads build up over time into a unique record of what they have experienced. On diagnosis, one of our Play Specialists will explain the programme and give out the first beads. After this other staff trained on the programme can give out beads.

CLIC Sargent

CLIC Sargent is the UK’s leading cancer charity for children, young people, and their families. They provide practical and emotional support to help them cope with cancer and get the most out of life. They are there from diagnosis and aim to help the whole family deal with the impact of cancer. CLIC Sargent Social workers do not meet with families until a definite diagnosis has been made.

CLIC Sargent Social Workers tailor their support to suit the needs of families including:

Providing emotional and listening support Helping you to understand and find ways to deal with practical issues Giving financial support including grants and help you access benefits support and advice Provide a wide range of information on childhood cancer and its impact Helping children, young people and their families access short breaks or holidays provided by CLIC Sargent and other partner organisations Helping children and young people keep up with school, college, university, training or work Supporting parents and young people to liaise with schools, colleges and employers.

Alder Hey is a Principal Treatment Centre (PTC) treating children and teenagers with cancer.

The PTC works in collaboration with a network of local shared care hospitals called Paediatric Oncology Shared Care Units (POSCUs) so that appropriate elements of treatment and supportive care can be given closer to the patient’s home.

The Pharmacy Department at Alder Hey is responsible for all medicines produced and dispensed to outpatients, day patients and inpatients.

Our pharmacists and technical staff

Ward 3B has a dedicated pharmacy service provided by pharmacy staff based on the ward.

The pharmacists on Ward 3B specialise in the treatment of children and teenagers with cancer. They work as part of the clinical team and have developed detailed knowledge of the medicines used in the treatment of cancer.

They are responsible for ensuring that correct medicines are prescribed, devising and supervising treatment protocols for patients and providing information about medicines to staff and patients.

Pharmacy technicians and assistants play a vital role working alongside the pharmacists. They prepare and dispense medicines under the supervision of a pharmacist. Many of the medicines dispensed are unusual or not readily available and these are prepared by the technical staff.

Clinical Oncology/Haematology pharmacy service

Pharmacists and technicians work as part of the clinical team on 3B.

As experts in medicine, the main focus of the role involves applying our extensive pharmaceutical knowledge to ensure that medicines are used in the most effective and appropriate way.

As soon as possible after admission, a member of the Pharmacy Team will visit you/your child and clarify any medication history and allergies. With your permission, we may contact your GP, Community Pharmacy or other relevant healthcare provider for further information. The medicines you have brought in with you will be assessed, and any additional medicines supplied. We will check the suitability of the medicines.

Managing patients’ medicines involves pharmacists checking prescriptions to ensure that the right medication is being used at the right dose for the right condition. All chemotherapy prescriptions are checked by a pharmacist before a dose is given. Medicine safety is of paramount importance, so part of our role involves regularly checking you/your child’s medicines during your admission and monitoring the patient’s condition by ensuring the necessary checks, such as blood tests, are performed.

We can help you/your child understand what medicines they need to take, when to take them, what they are being used for and what possible side effects may occur. When patients are unable to take their medicines for any reason, we can help find ways around the problem e.g. using liquids rather than tablets.

We work closely with the clinical team to undertake clinical trials making sure that we help to develop new treatments for children and teenagers with cancer. Treatments that are given as part of a clinical trial need to be carefully controlled. Our pharmacists’ responsibilities include ensuring any clinical trial medicine is stored and dispensed correctly and in line with the law. The pharmacists review the latest procedures and explain the correct use and storage of the medication to other health professionals.

This Satellite Pharmacy is responsible for preparing and providing medicines for patients attending 3B (day case, in-patients and some out-patient clinics). It does not provide medicines that need to be made in extremely clean conditions e.g. intravenous chemotherapy. These are provided by Aseptic Services insert hyper link to Aseptic services