Paediatric and neonatal care
We provide excellent neonatal care in our specialist nursery and we regularly perform paediatric surgery and care for children.
Neonatal care
The Bays has an award-winning maternity service which involves the delivery and post-delivery care of newborn babies. Our special care nursery is a state-of-the-art facility featuring the latest equipment and technology. Our team of qualified midwives and paediatricians care for babies in our nursery. Many of our paediatricians are based at The Bays and we always have a paediatrician on-call to attend the nursery 24-hours a day.
Paediatric surgery
We care for many children who have surgery at The Bays.
Our surgeons regularly perform:
- tonsillectomy
- grommets insertion
- adenoidectomy
- oral surgery and tooth removal
- orthopaedic surgery for broken bones or dislocations
- minor plastic surgery
Some of these procedures only require a day surgery visit. These patients are cared for in our Day Surgery Unit and then discharged to go home.
What to expect when your child has surgery
We encourage children to bring a favourite toy or book, and provide paediatric patients with a donated teddy bear for comfort.
We encourage parents and carers to be involved in the care of a child needing to be admitted to hospital (including washing, feeding and entertaining them). This helps minimise their distress at being in a strange place.
Paediatric patients are welcome to bring one support person with them before entering the operating theatre. We ask that you stay with your child before surgery and while they recover.
Nursing staff will direct you to a waiting area while your child is in surgery.
Overnight stays
If your child is staying overnight after surgery, they will be cared for in a private room on our surgical ward.
One parent or carer is allowed to stay overnight with a child patient, and we will provide a recliner/bed in the same room.
Our commitment to child safety
We are committed to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. We have procedures in place to protect children from abuse and respond to any risks, allegations or safety concerns.
We want all children and young people to be and feel safe, welcome and included in our services, and take steps to ensure the voices of children, young people and families are heard.
We welcome and value all children and young people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children with disabilities, children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and our LGBTIQA+ community.
We provide a culturally safe environment including a strong commitment to the cultural safety of Aboriginal children. We use the services of Peninsula Health’s ATSI Health Service.
We are proud to be a Child Safe Organisation.
If you have a concern about the safety of a child or would like to report a child safety issue, please contact our Director of Clinical Services.
Children’s and young people’s rights in healthcare services
Every child and young person has a right:
- to consideration of their best interests as the primary concern of all involved in his or her care
- to express their views, and to be heard and taken seriously
- to the highest attainable standard of healthcare
- to respect for themselves as a whole person, as well as respect for their family and the family’s individual characteristics, beliefs, culture and contexts
- to be nurtured by their parents and family, and to have family relationships supported by the service in which the child or young person is receiving healthcare
- to information, in a form that is understandable to them
- to participate in decision-making and, as appropriate to their capabilities, to make decisions about their care
- to be kept safe from all forms of harm
- to have their privacy respected
- to participate in education, play, creative activities and recreation, even if this is difficult due to their illness or disability
- to continuity of healthcare, including well-planned care that takes them beyond the paediatric context.
Feedback
We will provide you with a patient questionnaire and encourage you to complete it. Your feedback about your stay with us is important information and we appreciate it. The information is received by our Director of Clinical Services.
If you have a comment or complaint, please bring it to the attention of a member of staff. We are very keen to hear about it, and to help you.
