Alder Hey in the Park has been designed to be inviting, warm, happy, calming and educational. 75% of patients will have their own bedroom with en-suite facilities and views of the park wherever possible. Wards are bright with lots of space but families are also able to enjoy privacy and dignity.
Bedrooms have been designed to make patients feel at home and patients are able to control the light and temperature in their room.
Our inpatient wards are on levels three and four of our hospital. You can find them easily by taking the lift from the main atrium.
All female patients aged 12 years or older who are having a procedure or surgery involving a general anaesthetic (putting them to sleep) will be asked to provide a sample of urine for a pregnancy test before their procedure.
A sample of urine should be collected on the morning of the procedure. The first urine of the day is the best as it is the most concentrated, but it can be collected later.
If the urine is collected at home the sample should be stored in a suitable container in the fridge until you are ready to travel to Alder Hey Hospital.
Suitable containers can be obtained from your GP, any pharmacy or Alder Hey. Please ring 0151 252 5488 (or via switchboard on 0151 228 4811, extension 2488) if you would like a container sent to you by post.
Search for 'pregnancy testing' in our information leaflets section.
If a doctor considers a young person to be mature enough they are judged to be ‘competent to consent’ and can agree to the pregnancy test for themselves.
The hospital cannot share the result of the pregnancy tests with parents or carers without a competent young person’s permission. We will encourage young people to involve their parent or carer in decisions about their care, but we will not routinely inform parents or carers of the result of the pregnancy test, even if it is negative.
Sometimes it is necessary to cancel or delay procedures at short notice. If this happens, please do not assume that this is due to the result of a pregnancy test.
Who can give Consent?
If children have capacity to give consent for themselves, health care professionals are asked to seek consent directly from them. The legal position regarding ‘capacity’ is different for children aged over and under 16.
Children aged 16 and 17
At 16 years of age, a young person can be presumed to have the capacity to consent to their own treatment, care and non-medical interventions. This means that in many respects they should be treated as adults – for example if a signature on a consent form is necessary, they can sign for themselves
However, it is still good practice to encourage children who have capacity to involve their families / carers in decision-making.
Where a child with capacity asks a health care professional to keep their confidence, they must do so, unless they can justify disclosure on the grounds that they have reasonable cause to suspect that the child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm if the disclosure is not made.
Health care professionals should however seek to persuade the child to involve their family, unless they believe that it is not in their best interests to do so.
Younger children
Unlike 16 or 17 year olds, children under 16 are not automatically presumed to have capacity to make decisions about their healthcare. However, the courts have stated that under 16s will have capacity to give valid consent to a particular intervention if they have “sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed” (sometimes known as “Gillick competence”).
In other words, there is no specific age when a child gains capacity to consent to treatment: it depends both on the child and on the seriousness and complexity of the treatment being proposed. However, a child over 16 is presumed to have capacity
Health care professionals will help children by involving them from an early age in decisions and encouraging them to take an increasing part in the decisions about their care. This will particularly apply when caring for a particular child over a period of time, for example where the child needs a series of operations.
If a child under 16 has capacity to consent to a particular intervention, it is still good practice to involve their family in decision-making unless the child specifically asks the health care professional not to do so and they cannot persuade the child otherwise.
As with older children, health care professionals must respect any request from a child under 16 years of age with capacity to keep their treatment confidential, unless they can justify disclosure on the grounds that they have reasonable cause to suspect that the child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm if that information is not disclosed.
If a child lacks capacity to consent, consent may be obtained from someone with parental responsibility for the child. However, it is seen as good practice to involve all children (even really young children) in decisions about their care.
The Gillick Competence Test
This helps clinicians to identify children aged under 16 who have the legal capacity to consent to medical examination and treatment. They must be able to demonstrate sufficient maturity and intelligence to understand the nature and implications of the proposed treatment, including the risks and alternative courses of actions.
An assessment of capacity should be completed in accordance with the Gillick competence test and recorded in the notes as well as the outcome of assessment.
Further information on national recommendations:
Alder Hey Children's Charity
