Healthcare services

Health visiting and school nursing

The Derbyshire Family Health Service is a team of healthcare professionals, that include health visitors and school nurses who will support you and your family as part of the 0-19 year olds free public health and wellbeing services. From birth to early adulthood, the team provide the support and information you need to keep your family healthy. This includes:

Child health clinics

Child health clinics are by appointment only. If you would like to make an appointment to get your baby weighed or to discuss another issue, you can use the NHS ChatHealth text messaging service and the team will help you.

ChatHealth is a secure and confidential text messaging service for parents and young people. It allows you to easily get in touch with a healthcare professional for advice and support. You don't have to give your name; you can still send a message to get advice or to chat with us about any worries you may have.

Parents can text ChatHealth on 07507 327754
Young people (aged 11 to 19) can text ChatHealth on 07507 327104

Information about child health clinics in Derby is available on the NHS Derbyshire Healthcare website. When you attend an appointment, please bring your child's red book with you.

GPs, urgent treatment centres and NHS 111

Your General Practitioners (GPs) surgery or health centre is the first place to visit if you have a health concern. They provide a wide range of family health services including advice on health problems, examinations and treatment, vaccinations, prescriptions for medicines and referrals to other health services and social services.

Find a GP

Use the NHS childhood vaccines timeline to ensure your child is safe.

Urgent treatment centres are a support service for GPs. They can provide a valuable service for unregistered patients or others who have difficulty accessing their own GP services. You do not need an appointment; you can just walk in.

Find your nearest urgent treatment centre

NHS 111 can help you if you have an urgent medical problem and you are not sure what to do.

Get help online or by telephone:

go to 111.nhs.uk
call 111

The service is also available by textphone and BSL interpreter relay service. Information about alternative formats can be found on their website.

Community Dental Services

Community Dental Services provide a full range of NHS dental care for adults and children with additional needs and those from vulnerable groups. This service is led by a specialist dentist, and all staff are experienced in working with those who are anxious or require additional support for their dental care.

For more information, visit the Community Dental Services website.

Learning disability health check

Anyone aged 14 or over who's on their GPs learning disability register can have a free learning disability health check once a year.

You can ask to go on this register if you think you have a learning disability. You do not need to be diagnosed with a learning disability to be on the register. The learning disability register is different from the register of social care needs managed by local councils.

Mencap has some useful Easy Read guides and a video to share on what happens at an annual review. More information is also available on the NHS website.

Medical needs in schools

Some children and young people attending early years settings and schools will have long-term health conditions for example, asthma, epilepsy and diabetes.

All schools are required to have their own policy on supporting pupils with medical conditions. This will be based on national guidance for schools, together with some suggested templates for writing individual healthcare plans.
Some long-term conditions can easily be managed without the need for an individual healthcare plan, but for some children and young people and individual healthcare plan is required to make sure that their medical needs are met during their time at nursery or school.
A decision on whether a plan is needed in school would normally be based on advice from health practitioners and be made in consultation with parents and carers and, where possible, the child or young person themselves.

Individual Health Care Plans (IHCP)

Ensuring that there is an individual healthcare plan when a child or young person needs one is the responsibility of the school or setting, but it is normally written in partnership with parents and carers, and ideally the child or young person. It is based on the advice given by health practitioners, likely to be a doctor or nurse and should be updated at least annually.

Children's NHS therapy services

Most healthcare services can help children and young people with a disability, but sometimes extra support or therapy services are needed.

Additional support is often referred to as a 'targeted health service'. Targeted health services are in place to support those with more complex needs. The support offered is sometimes on a short-term basis and is provided through an assessment or referral by your GP, dentist, child's school or setting, health visitor, school nurse or social worker.

Speech and language therapy

Speech and language therapy services support children with speech, language and communication and or eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties.

They work with children in their education settings such as schools, nurseries or pre-schools, in their own homes, in other community settings or in hospital. They work closely with other children's workforce professionals, including health visitors, paediatricians, school staff, educational psychologists, specialist teachers and social care staff. Some children’s needs may be associated with wider needs or a diagnosis such as autism, hearing impairment, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, cleft lip and palate, or may exist on their own.

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy aims to help and treat children and young people with physical problems as well as providing support to their families and carers.

Physiotherapists support children and young people who have difficulty with movement and treat short and long-term conditions that impact on physical development, activity and their ability to participate in play, learning and socialising.

Following an assessment, physiotherapy programmes are devised in collaboration with both the child or young person and their family or carer. Treatment is incorporated into simple everyday activities. Advice and training are provided so that the family can help and encourage the child to practice their physiotherapy programmes.

We work with the child or young person, their family, and health and education colleagues to encourage each child to get the most out of their lives and fully develop their potential, from birth to the time they transition to adult services.

To learn more, or to make contact with your local NHS physiotherapy service:

Occupational therapy

Children’s occupational therapy team provides a specialist service to children and young people aged 0 to 19 in Derby and Southern Derbyshire who experience difficulties with movement and daily activities at home and school.

Services they can help with are:

self-care: washing, dressing, using cutlery, using the toilet
productivity: learning, handwriting, activities in the classroom or home
leisure: play, sports, hobbies.

Children may be seen in clinic, in the community at home, school or nursery, or by video appointment as appropriate.

To support children with sensory processing, a video presentation will be shown alongside useful documents. It is recommended to watch the video before participating in the interactive workshop.

For children with poor co-ordination, support can be accessed through the 'Active Hands are Achieving Hands programme' in school.

Children's specialist community nursing and paediatric services

Specialist children's community nurses provide care and support for children and their families who have long term complex health needs, often palliative, within their home and community. The nursing teams provide clinical assessments, treatments and support. They also educate and train families and carers on specific subjects including diagnosis and clinical procedures. Derby’s Children's Community Nursing Service is also known as Kids In Their Environment (KITE) Team.

Community paediatrics

In community paediatrics, paediatricians are doctors experienced with children and young people for an identified or complex health need. They are specially trained in child health and development and see children for a wide variety of reasons.

Children's asthma service

Most children have their asthma treated and managed by their GP.

The following resources provide advice for all children and young people with asthma, both at home and at school or nursery:

The Children’s Respiratory team at the Royal Derby Hospital provides care for children and young people from 0 to 17 years old, as well as their families, from diagnosis through to treatment and management of their condition.

allergy testing
bronchial provocation testing
nitric oxide measurements.

If your asthma is severe, you may be referred to Severe Asthma Service at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

At the age of 19 and older, young people would be transitioned to the adult respiratory service or back to their GP. Most children are under the care of their GP unless they have severe asthma.

Children's Diabetes Service

The Paediatric Diabetes Multidisciplinary team ensures a coordinated and consistent approach to diagnosis, treatment and support services for all children and young people diagnosed with diabetes between the ages of 0 to 19 years old across Derby city.

The multidisciplinary team aims to achieve the highest standards of patient care and outcomes through the following measures:

providing comprehensive information with regards to diabetes management to children, parents, relatives and carers including staff at school at the time of diagnosis
providing ongoing support through regular outpatient clinics, home visits, and regular telephone contacts with children and families
ensuring that all children have a health care plan provided for use at school
following National Guidelines including NICE, NSF, BSPED, ISPAD and developing local guidelines which are reviewed periodically
participating in local, national and international research studies and incorporating new research and best practices into children’s diabetes care
the collection of high-quality data through audit and analysis and participation in the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit
involving patients and families in the assessment and redesigning of the service.

At the age of 19 and older, most young people are transferred into the care of the Young Adult Diabetes team, while a smaller number are cared for by their GP.

Children's Epilepsy Service

The Children's Epilepsy Service is in place to clinically assess, investigate and diagnose epilepsy; or to rule out suspected seizure activity for children and young people age 0 to 17 years old. If epilepsy is diagnosed, the team provides specialist advice and ongoing support to young people and their families to help them manage epilepsy well and improve health outcomes. This will be through scheduled outpatient clinic appointments at intervals based on their health need.

The nursing team also:

support the young person and family following a diagnosis of epilepsy
provide a point of contact and ongoing support for young people and families in between the scheduled epilepsy clinic appointments
support the continuity of epilepsy care across community settings including nursery, school, recreational and respite settings
provide a comprehensive epilepsy care plan and seizure management advice for home and educational settings
prepare the young person for the transition of care through to adult epilepsy services.

At the age of 19 and older, the young person would be transitioned into the Adult Neurology Team at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton.

Children's Continence

The Children's Continence service is a small nurse-led community level 2 service supporting children and young people aged 4 to 18 years old (19 if your child attends a special school) with continence needs, following receiving level 1 support from services such as health visiting, school nursing and GP. The service sees children who are experiencing problems with their bowels and bladder, to assess their problems, give preliminary diagnosis, support, management and treatment plans. They see a range of children and young people, who for some, this is their only healthcare need and others who have a range of complex needs.

Children in Care and adoption nurses and doctor service

Children in Care is a team of specialist nurses who support the health needs of looked after children, their carers and those leaving care up to the age of 18. They make sure the health needs of looked after children are met by undertaking review health assessments and delivering packages of care. They also work closely with other professionals surrounding looked after children and can support referrals to different services as needed.

Children's Continuing Care Arrangements

Joined Up Care Derbyshire - Children's Continuing Care for children and young people is an additional package of care to support parents and carers to meet their child's health needs. This could be because they cannot be met by existing services, universal and specialist, alone. NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board is responsible for arranging for health services locally. They have a responsibility for assessing children and young people to see if they need a package of continuing care.

Some children and young people aged up to 18 years old may have complex health needs. These may be the result of:

• congenital conditions
• disability
• long-term or life-limiting conditions
• serious illness or injury.

NHS Continuing Healthcare for people 18 years and above

NHS Continuing Healthcare is a package of ongoing care that is arranged and funded solely by the National Health Service (NHS) specifically for the small number of individuals with high levels of need. Such care is provided to an individual aged 18 or over to meet health and associated social care needs that have arisen as a result of disability, accident or illness.

This service is free, unlike support provided by local authorities, which may involve the individual making a financial contribution depending on income and savings. It is the responsibility of the Integrated Care Board to decide the appropriate package of support for someone who is eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare.

Emergency care provision

We understand that people who have carers have worries or concerns about what would happen if their carer was to fall ill, or for whatever reason, be unable to provide the usual level of care that is needed. We also understand that carers share the same concerns. Putting a plan into place to ensure you continue to receive the care you require is good practice. The information on this page details what is available from local authorities or different organisations to help you do this.

Planning for an emergency

You may be worried about what might happen if your carer had to go into hospital, had an accident or were no longer able to care for you. Planning in advance and talking about who could provide your care if this happens makes an emergency easier to deal with.

The following organisations offer detailed information and advice on how you can plan for an emergency:

Planning for the future

Your support needs, and your carer's will change over time which means your living arrangements may also be affected. A good way to ensure your living arrangements are planned, is to discuss the care you need with family and friends. You may want to talk about housing options with them and the person who cares for you. Having an agreed understanding in advance of an emergency, can help you or your carer make decisions.

Your care needs change over time but you can maintain some independence by making changes to your home or introducing a few things to make it easier if your carer was unable to care for you. You may wish to think about lifelines (alarms), key safes, equipment, assistive technology and other home adaptations. It is good practice to have these in place before something happens.

Power of attorney

A power of attorney is a way of giving someone you trust the legal authority to make decisions for you if you can’t make them yourself, or if you don’t want to.

Hospitals

The Royal Derby Hopsital covers Derby city. The NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and NHS Trusts cover multiple hospitals in the region. 

There are two SEND children’s services at the Royal Derby Hospital:

Derby’s NHS Children’s Services offer a full range of services in dedicated child and family friendly environments, including a separate emergency department, family accommodation and the Ronnie MacKeith Centre for children with special and education needs. Their staff are fully trained in paediatrics and work closely with regional expert teams in Nottingham, Birmingham and Leicester.

Children's Community Nursing also known as the Kids In Their Environment (KITE) team, is a team of experienced children’s nurses who provide specialist nursing care and support in the hospital, home and the community. They facilitate the wishes of children with complex care needs to live at home, go to school, spend time with friends and participate in community activities.

Always call  999 if someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.

Palliative care (end of life care)

Palliative care is the care of patients with advanced, progressive and life-limiting illnesses, both cancer and non-cancer, their carers and families. It includes:

the management of pain and other symptoms such as psychological, social and spiritual support
quality of life and living as actively as possible until death
all health professionals providing care and is available in all clinical settings
end of life and bereavement care.

Referrals come from the primary care team or GP and are made to the team secretary by telephone.

The Community Palliative Care team is based at the Royal Derby Hospital.

Contact details

Telephone: 01332 786008
Minicom: 01332 254944
Email: dhft.cancerinformation@nhs.net

Out of hours support

Macmillan Cancer Support: 0808 808 0000

More information about palliative care in Derby is available on the NHS University Hospitals of Burton and Derby website.