Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
Inspired by children and young people to be
remarkable each and every day
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust provides care for over 275,000 children
and young people every year. Each year, approximately 60,000 children visit its A&E
department (the busiest of its kind in the country) each year while over 30,000 attend
as outpatients. The Trust employs around 2800 staff while providing education and
training to around 540 medical and over 500 nursing/allied health professional
students each year.
Alder Hey is a top performing trust. We remain an NHSLA Level 3 organisation (the
highest possible rating for clinical risk management) and are registered with the Care
Quality Commission without conditions. Since becoming a Foundation Trust in 2008,
our ratings from our regulator Monitor have generally been among the highest
available.
As Alder Hey moves towards its centenary year in 2014, we are embarking on a new
and exciting era by building a new hospital in the park. Alder Hey in the Park will be
a purpose-built, unique and world class healing environment for children and young
people. Building work will begin in March 2013 with the new Alder Hey set to open its
doors in 2015.
Alder Hey is supported by The Alder Hey Children’s Charity which was launched in
2012. Alder Hey’s former charity ‘The Imagine Appeal’ raised more than £14 million
to improve the quality of life for children and young people who are cared for at the
hospital and through research and innovation the lives of young patients throughout
the world. The Alder Hey Children’s Charity will soon be embarking on a major
Appeal to support the building of the new hospital.
Breadth of Service
Alder Hey delivers clinical excellence for all children, for routine illnesses as well as
very complex and rare conditions. These conditions include; allergies, physiotherapy,
radiology, rheumatology, dermatology, urology, general paediatrics, endocrinology,
gastroenterology, diabetes, dental, day case surgery, ear, nose and throat,
birthmarks, cleft, lip and palate, haematology, nephrology, neonatal care, intensive
care, plastics and ophthalmology.
Alder Hey is one of four stand alone children’s hospitals in the UK and offers a
number of specialist services. We are a designated national centre for neuro and
craniofacial surgery, a regional centre for burns injuries and a Centre of Excellence
for children with cancer, heart, spinal and brain disease. In 2012, Alder Hey became
the first hospital in the North of England to perform a specialist Selective Dorsal
Rhizotomy technique for treatment of Cerebral Palsy. We are one of only four
centres nationally to provide epilepsy surgery and one of only two accredited major
trauma centres in the North West. Alder Hey is also a respiratory Extracorporeal
Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) centre and is in all options put forward to be a
national centre for cardiac surgery under the ‘Safe and Sustainable’ review. We
became the first UK Centre of Excellence for Childhood Lupus in 2010.
In addition to the main hospital site in West Derby, Alder Hey has a presence at a
number of community outreach sites and delivers care locally across the North West
of England, from Cumbria to Shropshire, Wales and the Isle of Man. In 2012, Alder
Hey opened Alder Park; an additional inpatient facility in Waterloo for our children
and young people with complex mental health needs.
Patient Centred Quality Care
At Alder Hey children inspire us to be remarkable each and every day. They stand at
the heart of everything we do, driving us to deliver the best care every time, and to
bring innovation that changes lives. Our child-centred care extends beyond medicine
and surgery into physical and emotional wellbeing, offered to all who enter our doors,
regardless of the need or how brief the stay.
Our aim is to provide the best patient experience possible. We have a team of Play
Specialists trained to use ‘play’ to distract patients during procedures. Alder Hey also
has an award winning arts programme (Alder Hey Arts) which involves music
therapy, dance programmes, storytelling and animation projects. Other activities
taking place across the hospital include football workshops and ward spa sessions
for mums.
We respect the views and decisions of every child and their family. Our work with our
patients has involved the development of Fabio the Frog, a fun handheld reporting
tool which enables all children of all abilities to have their say. We were the first
children’s hospital in the UK to be accredited by Investing in Children and our Renal,
Oncology, PALs and Arts in Health Services have also been individually accredited.
We are also one of a few hospitals to have a Children and Young Person’s Forum.
The Forum meets regularly with Trust staff and has provided guidance to both of the
bidders for the new hospital as well as supporting the recruitment of key Board level
posts.
Alder Hey is committed to the safety and the future health of children and young
people. Our dedicated safeguarding facility, the Rainbow Centre, provides a 24/7
child protection service and was recently awarded ‘outstanding’ by OfSted. Professor
Ian Lewis, our Medical Director is leading on developing national health outcomes for
children in the UK. We continue to drive health promotion both locally and nationally
and we are England’s first health promoting hospital accredited by the World Health
Organisation.
At Alder Hey we care for families, not just the children and young people we treat.
Pastoral support is available to the whole family through Alder Hey’s Spiritual Care
Team who are available 24hours a day to listen, reassure and help any families in
our care. The Trust also has a dedicated bereavement team while the Alder Centre
provides counselling services for anyone affected by the death of a child and jointly
runs the Child Death Helpline, offering 24/7 support to families across the country.
Ronald McDonald House at Alder Hey Hospital is the largest purpose-built Ronald
McDonald House in the world. It provides accommodation totally free of charge for
the parents and carers of the most critically ill children, including those suffering from
cancer, heart conditions, neuro-medical conditions or in hospital as a result of
serious accidents. Since opening in 1993 with just 26 bedrooms, the House has
expanded twice and now offers accommodation to 84 families each night.
Continuous Improvement and Innovation in Paediatric Healthcare and Research
Alder Hey has a strong, active research portfolio and a vision of leading, pioneering
translational research to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young
people locally, nationally and internationally. The first University Institute of Child
Health in the UK was established at Alder Hey, striving to champion the health of
children to reach their potential. It is still only one of two University Institutes of Child
Health in the UK today.
Alder Hey developed the first British national formulary for paediatrics.The Trust
leads the field in paediatric research pharmacovigilence, hosts the UK Medicines for
Children Research Network (MCRN) and is the lead centre for the Cheshire,
Merseyside and North Wales MCRN. Our focus on quality and innovation is
supported by our new research strategy which aims to place Alder Hey in the best
possible position to achieve its vision of being ‘one of the recognised world leaders in
children’s research and healthcare’. Alder Hey provides a wide range of healthcare
services for children and young people and offers an unparalleled opportunity to
deliver the highest quality research. This includes original investigator led research,
participatory research and facilitative research.
The need for medicines designed for use in children and infants and in appropriate
formulations is well recognised. Research at Alder Hey has focused on the
understanding of adverse drug reactions in children, the development of ageappropriate formulations of medicines for children and genetic predisposition for the
development of side effects to drugs or poor response to medicines. Recent
legislation in Europe and the USA has mandated that all new pharmaceutical
products seeking market authorization must undergo clinical trials in children and
young people unless there is a scientific or regulatory reason not to do so.
Consequently, there is a huge increase in the volume of clinical trials of medicines in
children and infants and a pressing need to understand aspects of safety in their
use.
The challenges for paediatric oncology are not only to improve the survival of
patients with aggressive tumour types but also to decrease the treatment-related
toxicity. Translational research in childhood cancer in Liverpool is undertaken by the
Paediatric Cancer Biology Group (Chair, Professor Barry Pizer), formed as a
collaboration between Alder Hey clinicians and UoL scientists and now affiliated with
the Liverpool CRUK Centre. Underpinned by major grants from the BBSRC and the
Neuroblastoma Society, the initial focus of research was to understand and tackle
the problem of drug resistance and relapse in paediatric tumours mainly
neuroblastoma (NB) and medulloblastoma (MB). Local clinical research projects in
neuro-oncology include the development of 3T intra-operative and advanced MRI
imaging, the value of arterial spin labelling and ‘microbubbles’ in CNS tumour
imaging and the roll out of a new Liverpool staging system for craniopharyngioma.
We are developing an active programme into the so-called ‘Posterior Fossa
Syndrome’, a common complication of surgery. Supportive care studies include the
investigation of novel biomarkers for the diagnosis and management of patients with
central venous catheter associated infections and a collaboration with Professor
Munir Pirmohamed, Dept of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, UoL, to explore
the pharmacogenetics of cisplatin induced ototoxicity using a genome wide and
functional genetic approach (world first).
The use of biologic therapies has opened a major new era in the medical
management of paediatric autoimmune and auto-inflammatory disorders. We are
actively involved in collaborative research with all major paediatric rheumatology
research networks across the UK, taking national leadership roles in those related to
juvenile-onset lupus (Beresford), juvenile-onset dermatomyositis (McCann), and
childhood-onset scleroderma (Baildam). Alder Hey is the UK’s first and only “Centre
of Excellence for Childhood Lupus” and Coordinating Centre for the UK’s JSLE
Study Group, a multi-disciplinary translational research group investigating this
archetypal, paediatric systemic autoimmune disease. The Department has
established international collaborations with the Paediatric Rheumatology
International Trials Organisation (PRINTO) and the Understanding Childhood
Arthritis Network (UCAN; UK representative), an international, translational
collaborative initiative focussed on determining the biological basis of juvenile
idiopathic arthritis. All of the senior clinicians within the Rheumatology Department
have a strong individual research portfolio and Alder Hey is uniquely positioned to
lead an internationally relevant program of translational research in inflammatory,
autoimmune disorders.
Infection is the commonest cause of ill health in children. Research at Alder Hey has
focused on understanding why children respond differently to acute infection and
developing strategies to identify and manage acute infection. In addition, work at
Alder Hey has focused on children with conditions that predispose them to chronic
infection, for example cystic fibrosis, neuromuscular disease and immunodeficiency.
Alder Hey is greatly involved in development of International Child Health including
within areas of research. Examples include Professor Atif Rahman’s programme of
research into Child Mental Health in Pakistan, Dr Enitan Carrol’s work in infectious
diseases in Malawi, Professor Nigel Cunliffe’s research activities in Africa and Nepal,
Mr Chandra’s work in models of eye care of childhood blindness in developing
countries and Dr Rachel Kneen’s work on epilepsy services in Nepal. In addition,
existing health links such as those undertaken by Ms Sian Falder (Burns) and others
include a research component. Our reputation as a leading centre for research will
be enhanced by increasing engagement with research activities overseas.
The trust opened a Clinical Research Facility in September 2011. The facility is
solely focused on paediatric research and will provide a world-class environment to
support and enhance the delivery of the highest quality, efficient, patient focused
research for children, young people and their families. Fully equipped and purposelydesigned with direct links to laboratory and pharmacy facilities, it will significantly
increase the capacity of Alder Hey to carry out essential paediatric research,
including experimental medicine and early phase studies. The attractive, child
friendly environment of the facility will also enhance the experience of all those
involved in research trials and help encourage greater participation. Research taking
place within the CRF focuses on investigating diseases and developing novel
therapies, medicines and drugs. This will include experimental and early phase
studies to establish the best route of medicine administration and correct dosages for
children and young people. Early phase trials will take place in complex childhood
conditions such as Hirschsprung’s disease, rheumatic disorders, cancers, diabetes,
respiratory disorders and infectious diseases. The CRF will further Alder Hey’s
expertise in paediatric drug development and help Alder Hey achieve its ambition to
be one of the recognised world leaders in children’s research and healthcare.
Alder Hey has strong collaborations with a number of Higher Education Institutions
(University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moore’s University, University of Central
Lancashire, Lancaster University, Chester University, Edge Hill University). Alder
Hey recently became a founding member of the Liverpool Academic Health Science
System (Liverpool Health Partners Ltd) which will enable us to continue to build our
research reputation and portfolio.
Alder Hey continues to build on its rich heritage of innovation and firsts. Dr Jackson
Rees pioneered the preferred technique in anaesthesia at Alder Hey while Penicillin
was first tested at the hospital in 1944 to save a child with pneumonia. Splints and
bespoke appliance first made at Alder Hey include the Jones Spinal Frame and the
famous Thomas Splint. The most commonly encountered congenital heart defect in
the UK was first cured by Alder Hey’s Mr Edwards and the first neonatal unit in the
UK was established at Alder Hey. Mr Robert Jones was also knighted for
advancements made in X-ray and orthopaedic work at Alder Hey. In recent years,
Alder Hey has opened the first paediatric 3-T intra-operative MRI scanner in Europe
and is the first paediatric trust to introduce ‘liquid glass’ to reduce hospital acquired
infections. The Trust recently won a HSJ award for its ‘not touch technique’ to reduce
infection rates.
Innovation is central to the new hospital Alder Hey in the Park. Along with an iconic
design, the new hospital will have the most efficient energy solutions for heating and
cooling, utilising underground water supplies. 10% of energy will be renewable. The
hospital will have leading edge technology, the latest medical equipment and hi-tech
educational/entertainment IT. It will also have a new research facility and education
centre to ensure Alder Hey leads the next generation of treatments and drugs for
children. The hospital is being funded through a new approach to PFI and an
innovative funding package.
Our Vision for the Future
As we near our 100th birthday in 2014, our vision is to become one of the recognised
world leaders in children’s research and healthcare. This means we will ensure we
deliver for every child:
The best clinical outcome possible, tried and tested against the best hospitals in the
world.
The best experience for every child and their family, measured against the best
standards of customer care in the world.
 The best research in children’s health staffed by world leaders in their fields.
 The best and the latest treatments, drugs and techniques to deliver leading edge
clinical practice .
 To be a powerful advocate and campaigner for children’s health and well-being
nationally and internationally.
To achieve this ambition, we are committed to building and investing in great
talented teams whom are the best in their field; dedicated to discover and to teach
new and better ways of caring which is aiming to set the standards nationally and on
a international scale.