Planned changes to care for the most severely burned children

We are working with the London and South East Burns Network and NHS England, so that from 1 August 2019 the very small number of children who are so badly burned that they need inpatient care will be taken to the specialist centre for children’s burns at St Andrew’s Burn Centre, Chelmsford or the specialist unit for children’s burns at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London.

For 98% of children experiencing a burn their care will remain with QVH only.

The 2% of children who are so badly burned that they need to stay overnight in hospital will receive their inpatient care in a hospital that also has paediatric intensive care. This is a clinically-led decision; only the larger burns need inpatient care and children can deteriorate very fast.

Children from Kent, Surrey and Sussex with larger burns who need inpatient care are already treated in London or Chelmsford. We expect this change to involve fewer than 40 additional patients per year.

Children who suffer a burn will be assessed at their local acute hospital, as they are now. QVH specialists will advise on immediate management, undertake triage with the assistance of telemedicine, and where needed provide outpatient burns assessment and treatment at Queen Victoria Hospital. For the very small number of cases where inpatient care is needed, children will be transferred from their local acute hospital to the specialist burns centres in Chelmsford and in Chelsea.