Respiratory

The Children’s Respiratory Team is based at the Jenny Lind Children’s Hospital within the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. We provide specialist respiratory care for children who live in the Norfolk and Suffolk area, extending to King’s Lynn and Great Yarmouth.

We also are a Specialist Centre for Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis care. Patient care is given in the Children’s Assessment Unit, Buxton Ward and Children’s Day Ward, all dedicated areas which care for the specific needs of the children. The majority of outpatients are seen in the Jenny Lind outpatient department, although we do have outreach Cystic Fibrosis (CF) clinics in the James Paget University Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. We have a close working relationship with our respiratory colleagues in Addenbrooke’s, Cambridge.

Clinical Team

The Respiratory team includes consultants, nurses, Physiotherapy , dieticians and psychologist each with specific expertise in caring for children with respiratory conditions. Consultants Dr Chris Upton and Dr Caroline Kavanagh are the two respiratory paediatricians who deal with all children with respiratory problems.

Mr Minocha and Mr Kulkarni are the two paediatric surgeons who are involved with surgical problems relating to children’s chests. All of the paediatric surgeons are involved with the care of children with Cystic Fibrosis who have surgical problems with their abdomen.

Respiratory nurses

The children’s respiratory specialist nurses are Catharine Moated (Lead Nurse) and Martin Firks. They  have training in both children’s nursing and caring for children with respiratory conditions. The nurses are able to work with the children and their families and assist them in understanding and living with their diagnosis so they are able to have the best quality of life possible. They can and do frequently undertake home and school visits to assess any solve any problems where possible. They also teach the other paediatric nurses about inhaler technique. They see patients admitted to the ward with asthma during their admission and discuss inhaler technique and their day to day asthma management.

Physiotherapists

The children’s respiratory physiotherapists are Holly Brooks and Lisa Morrison. They and the physiotherapy respiratory team provide care at inpatient and outpatient level to our children. They also undertake home visits when necessary.

Dietitians

The children’s paediatric dieticians involved with our team are Sophie Van Ralte, Kris Howell and Eliza Tassone. They are involved with our children with Cystic Fibrosis and see them at almost every clinic visit. This is because nutrition and enzyme supplements are crucial in the management of children with cystic fibrosis.

Psychologist

Louise Morgan is our paediatric clinical psychologist who works with our children with Cystic Fibrosis and their families and their schools.

Paediatric Secretaries

Charlotte Townsend and Julie Macrae (ext 3544) are our two paediatric secretaries who deal with general respiratory administration for the Respiratory Team and Nicola Smith (ext 6025) deals with Cystic Fibrosis.

Volunteer

Chris Willies, Welfare Rights Officer from Norfolk County Council supports the cystic fibrosis patients for benefit and social care advice.

Respiratory outpatient clinics

The cystic fibrosis clinic is a Monday afternoon and the general respiratory clinics are held on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon in the Jenny Lind. We see children with a wide variety of respiratory conditions. The vast majority of which encompass troublesome asthma, cough and recurrent chest infections.

All of the children are seen by the respiratory nurses prior to them being seen by the doctors. The nurses check the children’s inhaler technique, record lung function tests and take cough swabs where necessary. They also teach inhaler technique to patients who have either to commence an inhaler for the first time or are changed to a new inhaler device.

At the end of the clinic all of the patients seen are discussed by the team attending the clinic that day, as the multidisciplinary approach works best for our patients. Any future plans that need to be made are organised during that meeting.

Respiratory conditions seen in our clinic include:

• Asthma
• Cough
• Post Bronchiolitic wheeze
• Recurrent respiratory infections
• Stridor
• Ciliary Dyskinesia
• Sequelae of Respiratory Distress Syndrome due to prematurity of the
• Pulmonary Hypertension
• Immune Deficiency
• Interstitial Pneumonitis
• Sequestration of the lung
• Obstructive sleep apnoea
• Tuberculosis
• Habit Cough

Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis clinic

This clinic occurs on the first Wednesday of the month. In this clinic we see children who do not have Cystic Fibrosis, but have similar complicated chest problems are seen. When they attend the clinic, they see the nurses and doctors and they also they have a formal Physiotherapy review. Specimens of sputum or cough swabs are taken for culture to check if they have any organisms that are causing problems that need treated.

Useful Websites and telephone numbers

www.asthma.org.uk
0800 1216244