Children and families

Coming to GOSH

Clinical units and wards

Each team in the hospital is specialised - for instance, there is a cardiac team dealing with heart problems, an endocrine team who deal with hormone problems and a craniofacial team who deal with problems affecting the skull and face. Each specialised team in the hospital forms part of a clinical unit, which has its own lead clinician (usually, but not always, a doctor), senior nurse and management team.

There are 31 wards, departments and units at Great Ormond Street Hospital all caring for children with complex and rare conditions. We hope this page explains a little about your wards, but for more detail some wards have their own information booklets, which you can read by clicking the link.

Badger - Respiratory

The children on Badger ward all have breathing problems, including problems that happened before birth (congenital), complex asthma and other conditions where the lungs are involved. Children with sleep disorders also spend some time on Badger ward. Children with tracheostomies are also nursed on Badger ward along with children who require help with their breathing on a regular basis.

For information on outpatient clinic days click here.

Butterfly and Bumblebee - International and Private Patients

This is the inpatient ward for International and Private PatientsAs a large number of the children on this ward come from outside the UK, they are helped by Patient Advocates who interpret and support them throughout their stay.

For more information for international and private patients click here.

Cardiac Critical Care (CCC)

This ward is based in the Cardiac Wing and is where children are nursed before and after they have had heart surgery. It also houses the ECMO programme for children with serious, but reversible heart and lung damage. Newborn babies with suspected heart disease or defects stay here too. CCC is also home to the Heart/Lung Transplant Suite where children having transplants are nursed before and after the operation.

For more information about cardiac services click here.

For more information about the ECMO programme click here.

Cardiac Day Care

This ward is where a lot of cardiac investigations are carried out, such as ECG and Echo tests. Children usually come to the ward in the morning, have their tests and then go home in the evening. This is also where children come for pre-assessment clinics for cardiology.

For more information about cardiac services click here.

For more information about pre-assessment clinics for cardiology click here.

Caterpillar Outpatients

This is the outpatient department for the International and Private Patients Unit that treats children from all over the world. Most departments in the hospital use this area.

Dinosaur Admissions Unit

This is ward where children come before having an operation. There are lots of toys and games to play while waiting to go to the operating theatre. After the operation, children are taken back to another ward for ongoing nursing care.

Fox Ward - Haematology and Oncology

This ward is for children with blood disorders, cancers and leukaemias, immune or metabolic disorders who need a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. The children on Fox ward tend to have to stay a long time while the bone marrow or stem cell transplant is working.

Gastroenterology Investigation Suite

This unit is specially for children having investigations of their digestive system. The children come here for tests like gastroscopies, pH studies and hydrogen breath tests - all done on a day case basis.

For more information on gastroenterology click here.

Giraffe - Haematology and Oncology

This ward is for children with cancer and leukaemias. The children tend to spend some of their treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital and the rest at home under the care of their local 'shared care' hospital. This means that children do not have to spend months in hospital when they could be at home.

Hedgehog - General Surgery

Older children having surgery on their digestive system are nursed on this ward. Hedgehog ward is for less complex surgery, such as hernia repair or treatment of reflux.

Island Day Unit - Day Surgery

This is a day care ward for children having investigations or operations under anaesthetic. Children come for their investigations or operations and go home the same day. The types of operations children on Island Day Unit have can include eye surgery, laser treatment and general surgery.

Kingfisher - Tests and investigations

This ward is based in our newest building, the Octav Botnar Wing, and is where children undergo medical investigations and tests, like blood and hormone tests. The ward is open on weekdays, and treats children on a day case or short stay basis.

Ladybird - Cardiology

This ward is in the Cardiac Wing and is for children with heart disease both before and after surgery. These children can come to Ladybird ward as soon as they are born, but the ward is also for young people up to the age of sixteen.

For more information about cardiac services click here.

Lion - Haematology and Oncology

Louise - Urology and Ophthalmology

This is the ward where children come to be nursed before and after surgery to their urinary system. It also cares for children before and after eye surgery. It sees children from birth to sixteen years of age for both short stay and long stay treatment.

For more information on urology click here.

For more information on ophthalmology click here.

Mildred Creak Unit - Mental Health

This is our inpatient psychiatric unit for seven to 14 year olds with behavioural and emotional difficulties. Although the unit is open seven days a week, although most children return home at weekends.

For more information on child and adolescent mental health click here.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

This is for newborn babies and infants. Most of the babies cared for on this ward will need surgery for various problems, including TOF (tracheo-oesophageal fistula), diaphragmatic hernia and abdominal wall defects. Other babies come to NICU with problems not necessarily needing surgery, for instance breathing or feeding problems.

For more information on neonatal intensive care click here.

Outpatients department

There are two outpatient areas at GOSH: one in the Frontage building and the other in the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital next door. Children come to Outpatients for clinic appointments at all stages of their treatment. Most departments hold at least one outpatient clinic each week.

Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

This unit is for very sick children who need the highest level of nursing and medical care. The children here are transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital from all over the UK and sometimes from abroad. Usually children are transferred to other wards in the hospital before being able to go home.

For more information on paediatric intensive care click here.

Parrot - Neurosurgery

This is the neurosurgical ward for children with central nervous system tumours, hydrocephalus, and spinal cord abnormalities. This is also the ward where children are nursed after having epilepsy and craniofacial (skull and face) problems surgery or are having plastic or reconstructive surgery.

For more information on neurosurgery click here.

Penguin - Dermatology and Rheumatology

This ward is for children with dermatology (skin) or rheumatology (joint) problems from birth to fifteen years old. Skin conditions treated here include severe eczema and epidermolysis bullosa, and the rheumatology conditions include juvenile idiopathic arthritis, dermatomyositis and chronic pain syndromes. In both cases, these conditions tend to need treatment on a long-term basis.

For more information on dermatology click here.

For more information on rheumatology click here.

Peter Pan - Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgery

This is the ward for children having ENT (ear, nose and throat), eye or dental operations or plastic or reconstructive surgery. The seriousness of the operations ranges from removal of tonsils to reconstruction of the windpipe. It is also the ward where children with tracheostomies are nursed.

For more information on ENT click here.

For more information about the ward click here.

Rabbit - General Surgery

Infants and young children having surgery on their digestive system are nursed on this ward. The ward is for children having complex operations like abdominal wall defect repair.

Radiology

This is the department where children and diagnosed and treated using scans and interventional radiology. Children come here for scans like MRI scans or ultrasound scans or have procedures like angiography or sclerotherapy.

Rainforest - Gastroenterology and Endocrinology

This ward is for children with metabolic or digestive disorders. Due to the nature of these conditions, the children on this ward often have long stays in hospital.

For more information on gastroenterology click here.

For more information on endocrinology click here.

Robin - Haematology and Oncology

This ward is for children with immune problems or infectious diseases who need to be isolated to prevent them either catching or spreading any bugs. These children tend to stay in the hospital for a long time, especially if they have an immune problem, and may be waiting for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant on Fox ward.

Safari Day Care - Haematology and Oncology

This is a day care and outpatient centre for children with blood disorders, cancers and leukaemias, HIV and infectious diseases. Children can come to Safari Day Care for a clinic appointment, medications, tests or procedures and go home the same day.

For more information click here.

Sky - Orthopaedics and Ophthalmology

This is the ward where children having orthopaedic and spinal surgery are nursed. Children on this ward tend to have conditions like scoliosis, spina bifida, congenital limb problems and osteogenesis imperfecta. The operations these children have include limb lengthening operations, spinal surgery, hip and foot surgery.

Tiger - Neurology and Craniofacial

This ward is for children who have problems with their brain and nervous system. This includes children who have seizures (fits), have had a stroke, or have a neurodegenerative brain disorder that gradually gets worse over time. There is also a specialist epilepsy surgery service and a special suite of rooms especially for carrying out neurological tests.

For more information on neurology click here.

Transitional Care Unit (TCU)

This ward is for children who depend on breathing support from a ventilator or other mechanical support. The child and his or her family can prepare for going home with this breathing support from the Transitional Care Unit.

Victoria - Nephrology

This ward is for children with kidney problems. The children here range from birth to eighteen years old, and have kidney failure, are on dialysis or are having a kidney transplant.

For more information on nephrology click here.

This page was last updated on 5 November, 2009