Children and families

Coming to GOSH

Staying at GOSH

When you receive your admission letter

Please ring the ward named in your admission letter to confirm that you will be able to come to the hospital. The day before you are due to come to the hospital, you should ring the ward to confirm this.

Please tell the ward staff if you or your child has been in contact with an infectious disease like chicken pox or measles so we can decide whether this will affect your child's admission.

If your admission letter gives the last times your child can eat or drink before a test or operation, please follow these exactly - otherwise your child's test or operation may need to be delayed or even cancelled.

When you arrive at the hospital

Please report to the ward named in your admission letter. All our wards and departments are accessible to wheelchair users.

A nurse will show you around the ward and fill out some necessary forms with you. Once you have settled in, a nurse will check your child's height, weight, temperature, pulse and blood pressure.

The nurse will also make sure your child is as comfortable as possible, asking about favourite foods, bedtime, games and any special needs.

A doctor will then carry out a physical examination of your child, talk to you about their treatment and answer any questions. If your child needs tests like x-rays and blood tests, the ward staff will direct you to where these take place or accompany your child to them. If your child came to a pre-admission clinic, these may have already been done.

Settling in to the ward

A nurse will show you around the ward and fill out some forms with you. We will also check your child’s height, weight, temperature, pulse and blood pressure. Your nurse will also make sure your child is as comfortable as possible, asking about favourite foods, bedtime, favourite games and any special needs. Please hand all your child’s medicines to the nurse for safekeeping, but please remember to take them home with you when you leave GOSH.

Meeting the ward doctor

A doctor will then carry out a physical examination of your child, talk to you about their treatment and answer any questions. In some departments, this will be carried out by a nurse practitioner. If your child needs tests such as x-rays or blood tests, the ward staff will direct you to where these take place or come with you to the right department. If your child has come to a pre-admission clinic, these tests may already have been done.

Ward rounds and handovers

Medical staff visit each patient every day to make decisions about their care. This is called a ‘ward round’. The exact time may vary but the nurses will tell you when it happens on your ward. Your child’s consultant may not be at every ward round but we can assure you that the consultant is kept fully informed of your child’s progress. If you would like to speak to your child’s consultant, please ask the nurses to arrange this, as the consultant may not be free to visit straightaway, particularly if they are in clinic or the operating theatre.

There are two shifts of nurses working each day, a day shift and a night shift. The shifts change over at 7.45am and 7.45pm. At these times, nursing staff hand over information about your child’s progress to the next shift.