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A guide to using hospital services in Sheffield for children with SEND

Text says Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust. Logo to the right is a blue rectangle with white text that says NHS

You can find advice about using hospital services for a child with SEND on the Sheffield Children’s Hospital website. The autism resources pages also include information specifically about appointments and assessments.

Hospital Passport

Sheffield Children's Hospital have developed a communication and health passport.  This is to support children and young people to communicate their needs.

You can download a copy by clicking here.

This passport provides staff with all the important information about your child’s support needs:

  • about their healthcare
  • about their learning disability
  • how they prefer to communicate
  • how to make things easier for them when in hospital

When you have completed the passport for your child, you can bring it with you when you come to the Sheffield Children’s Hospital. Please give the passport to the nurse looking after your child.  This will help them to understand what you need.

You can also e-mail a copy to our learning disability lead nurse who will upload the form into your child’s patient records.  The e-mail address is scn-tr.autism-ld@nhs.net.

If you need support in completing a hospital passport, please contact our PALS service on 0114 2717594 or by e-mailing scn-tr.pals@nhs.net.

Paediatric Pain Profile (PPP)

Children with learning disability or autism, particularly those who are non-verbal or have a language and communication disorder, may find it difficult to explain their pain.  To help plan pain assessment, a Paediatric Pain Profile (PPP) has been created.

As a parent/carer you can complete this baseline assessment in advance with your child.  Bring it with you to the hospital to help with staff assessment of pain.

You can download a copy by clicking here.

Tips

There are Tips from parents. The tips have been suggested by members of the Sheffield Parent Carer Forum (SPCF) about bringing children with SEND into hospital for appointments or ward stays.

The tips include advice on the following:

  • Preparing for hospital admissions
  • Using technology from home
  • Managing appointments
  • Staying on the ward
  • Communicating with your child

The SPCF also have advice on their website about preparing your child for a blood test: Coping with blood tests.

Little Journey App

There is an app to help all children and parents prepare for day case surgery at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. It is called the Little Journey App and is free to download via Google Play and the Apple App store. It is suitable for android smart phones and tablets. 

The app can also be used for some other hospitals around the UK.

Video Guides

There are some videos guides about coming to an outpatient appointment on the Outpatients page. There is a video guide about having an operation on the Theatre Admissions Unit page. 

The videos all include Makaton signing.

 

 

Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

The PALS page on the Sheffield Children’s Hospital website includes information about the advice and support which you may find useful when dealing with NHS services in Sheffield.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The FAQs page on the Sheffield Children’s Hospital website includes some questions about children with SEND as well as general information about the hospital and services:

  • Do you have disabled parking?
  • How are children with special needs supported?