Alder Hey Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital is a major national children’s hospital in the UK and teaching hospital affiliated to Liverpool’s School of Medicine.

It serves not only the local children of Liverpool, but is the tertiary referral centre for children from Merseyside, Cheshire, parts of Lancashire, Shropshire and North Wales for many sub-specialties of paediatrics.

The Trust provides a range of community services including school nursing, home care, and a child development centre. A child and adolescent mental health service is also provided at the Trust and in the surrounding community.

The hospital provides care to approximately 270,000 children per year within a new hospital that opened in 2015. Alongside facilities for in-patient care, the Trust provides day beds for surgery and a medical day care unit, and has recently opened a paediatric Clinical Research Facility.

The paediatric specialist services and expertise within the hospital are considerable and include paediatric ophthalmology, cardiology, cardio-thoracic surgery, neonatal surgery, neurology, neurosurgery, audiology, nephrology, respiratory, rheumatology, gastroenterology, dermatology, endocrinology, metabolic medicine, haematology, oncology, palliative care, paediatric infectious diseases and immunology, allergy, clinical genetics, trauma, paediatric intensive care, paediatric radiology, paediatric pathology, general surgery, and general paediatrics all on a single site.

The radiology department provides an excellent supportive service, which includes both a CT and MRI scanning service.

A purpose-built education centre, the Institute in the Park, is situated on the hospital site to coordinate the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate activity.

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital - Welcome to The Land of Remarkable People

    Placement opportunities

    A range of undergraduate programmes are delivered to medical students at different stages of training.

    Third year students are placed in 4 week attachments and gain initial paediatric training through lectures, bedside teaching and tutorials. By the end of placement it is expected students will:

    • Be competent to take a full history for a range of common acute and long-term illnesses occurring in infancy and childhood and also screen appropriately for family, social and developmental problems
    • Be competent to undertake a complete physical examination of an infant or child including a screening developmental assessment
    • Be competent to determine a differential diagnosis and investigation plan appropriate to the presenting complaint of the child
    • Gain experience of core acute and long-term paediatric conditions
    • Students will have observed key clinical experiences: post take ward round, visit to a children’s centre/nursery, and following a patient and family through a day case visit
    • Students will be expected to complete core practical procedures: measurement of height and weight; measurement of blood pressure, temperature, head circumference, urinalysis

    Fourth year students are able to consolidate skills gained in year three with additional focus on management of acute and chronic paediatric conditions and paediatric prescribing skills.

    Final year students can be placed at Alder Hey for SAMP modules.

    In addition, the Trust provides research and scholarship projects (RS2/RS3) to second and third year students to help understand the pivotal contribution of research and scholarship to medical practice and contribute to its advancement.

    Clinical skills provision

    Paediatric basic life support is taught in a dedicated clinical skills environment.

    What's unique?

    It is Europe's first children's hospital built in a park. The original Alder Hey buildings will mostly be demolished and the land reclaimed as new parkland for the surrounding community.

    Features of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital include:

    • 75% of beds are be single, en-suite rooms with beds for parents
    • Access to play areas, natural light and striking views of the park are available wherever possible
    • Children, young people and teenagers will have dedicated areas to play and relax
    • An emphasis on next generation technology will improve healthcare - from patient entertainment systems to keeping patient records and dispensing medicines by robot
    • It is one of the most environmentally friendly hospitals in the world
    • Children and young people were involved with the design of the new hospital.

    Medical students have the opportunity to learn from novel patient shadowing experiences, for example following children attending for day case surgery and outpatient appointments. This allows students to gain invaluable insight into the experience of patients and family attending the hospital.

    Student testimonials

    Feedback gained from medical students during academic year 2016-17:

    “Thoroughly enjoyed the placement, very well organised!”

    “Very good teaching especially examinations.”

    “Really great placement overall.”

    “Neurology teaching was excellent. Abdominal CBL was also extremely useful. All staff have been extremely friendly and I have felt comfortable to ask for help.”