Dr. Emma Curtis:

There are a couple of areas in which we have addressed that issue. On the inpatient ward population, we are separating specialist tertiary care from secondary general care. Two wards will be used for high turnover rapid admission inpatient stay. One of the major differences between paediatric and adult care is that many of the children we see are fundamentally healthy but have contracted an intercurrent illness which requires admission. They recover quite quickly from the illness. We have two wards dedicated to this high turnover patient population. They will be very consultant intensive. We have developed a general paediatric model which involves an expansion in general paediatric consultant workforce. That is already under way. This patient population would spread through other beds in the current hospitals, but it will be provided for in this dedicated intensive high-turnover acute-illness section of the new hospital. In one way, that protects tertiary national beds and elective care beds.

We are also addressing the intensive care department. One of the causes of cancelled procedures is the availability of intensive care beds. As this will be the only intensive care unit in the country for children and young people, it has significantly greater capacity than is currently available, which will offer protection in that regard. There are several initiatives within our planning that are different from the way we currently run services and will stop the cancelling of elective procedures due to emergencies. We are separating the streams and working differently in the way we designate the need for beds, as well as bringing in initiatives around general paediatrics to ensure that specialist elective care continues at all times in spite of what are predictable peaks and falls in unplanned care.