Establishing paediatric nurses as part of the out of hours team has proved to be very successful for patients, families and staff.

Prior to this, if a child attended the out of hours centre with a condition which required a period of monitoring both the child with their parent/carer would normally have been transferred on to the Paediatric unit at Wishaw General Hospital. Transfers of care to hospital often led to a few hours of observation on the ward and then discharge home.

Now nursing staff, with the appropriate skills, from within the Paediatric ward provide the expertise in the out of hours centre. Paediatric medical advice remains available from within the Paediatric unit with additional support from the on call Consultant Paediatrician.

The aim was to provide a single point of care and treatment for the majority of patients, to reduce unnecessary transfers to hospital and to reduce the reliance on the Scottish ambulance service for transfers to hospital for a short period of observation.

Preliminary results show that in the new model fewer children have to be transferred to the Paediatric ward and those that do often will require admission as they are the more acute cases.

Tom Bryce, General Manager, said excellent feedback has been received from out of hours staff, Paediatric staff and patients: “The GP’s and nurse practitioners in the Out of Hours centre have welcomed the paediatric nursing input from both an educational and supportive standpoint. Families attending the centre have found the service to be accessible, supportive and helpful in their child’s care journey.

This test of change has now been fully implemented.