The Children’s Service provides specialist outpatient and inpatient paediatric care for children up to 16 years of age in Oldham, Rochdale and the surrounding areas.
Working closely with children’s community services, our team is here to carefully meet the individual needs of the children and families referred to us.
You can expect a warm welcome and high quality, reliable care from appropriately trained and skilled staff in a safe, suitable, child-friendly environment.
Everything we do is aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of the communities we serve.
The Children’s Unit at The Royal Oldham Hospital (The ROH)
The Children’s Unit is a 25-bed unit with four additional Critical Care (CC) Level 1 and Level 2 beds. There is a mix of cubicles and open bays available.
The Children’s O+A at The ROH
The Children’s O+A is open 24 hours a day providing care for children requiring emergency observation and assessment by the paediatric team.
Outpatient Departments
Children’s outpatient services are provided at The ROH and Rochdale Infirmary.
The outpatient service is open from Monday to Friday providing paediatric and speciality clinics in neurology, renal, allergy, respiratory, diabetes, urology, rheumatology, infectious diseases, genetics and dietetics.
Children’s Outpatients also carries out paediatric procedures including:
- frenulotomy (correcting tongue-tie)
- echocardiograms (heart scans)
- sweat tests
- prolonged jaundice screening
- phlebotomy (taking blood samples)
- pre-operative assessments
The Children’s Service believes in working in partnership and involving families in planning their child’s treatment and discussing how their care is delivered.
Inclusivity is important to us so if you need access to an interpreter, we’ll ensure this can take place.
Meals are provided for children and breastfeeding mothers who are admitted to the Children’s Unit. Refreshments will be provided for those children attending the O&A as required.
Access to all inpatient/O&A areas is monitored by CCTV and controlled by an intercom/door buzzer entry system. Please can we remind all staff, families and visitors that they must not allow tailgating through entry points. Staff must wear clear photographic identification at all times and we encourage children and families to ask to see our ID if it’s not visible.
If you need written information on any of the following, please ask a member of the team:
- services offered
- local unit information
- accommodation
- parking
- food for families
- financial help
- support services
- handwashing and infection control
- how parents/carers can be involved in the care of their child
To make your visit or stay as comfortable as possible, there are dedicated facilities for families of children which include:
- overnight accommodation for one parent or carer
- non-secure storage for personal items such as children’s clothes
- private breastfeeding/expressing facilities
- a parent sitting room
- a kitchen with hot drinks and snack-making facilities
- a toilet and washing area
- access to a telephone and internet connection within the hospital
COVID-19 restrictions mean the provision of these may have changed in line with social distancing and infection control recommendations. The latest guidance is available here.
Children’s Unit
Admissions to the Children’s Unit may be elective (planned) or because of an emergency. Referrals are accepted from the Emergency Department (ED), Children’s O+A, Healthy Young Minds (HYMs) or via direct admission.
Children’s O+A
Children can be referred to the O+A by GPs, the ED, Urgent Care Centre (UCC), Midwives, Children’s Community Nursing Team, Paediatric Consultants or Children’s Outpatients.
Children’s Outpatients
Children can be referred to Children’s Outpatients by GPs, the ED, UCC, Paediatric Consultants or specialty consultants.
Our team works closely with colleagues from children’s community teams in Oldham and across Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale.
Children's Ward Virtual Tour
Take a 360 tour of The Royal Oldham Hospital's Children's Ward. This tour has been designed to show the ward from the viewpoint of a child, with the images taken at a low perspective.
For the best results, we recommend you view the tour full-screen by clicking on the 'enter fullscreen' button (two arrows within a circle) at the bottom of the tour.