Who are we?

• We are a group of people who are involved with either providing, receiving or commissioning (i.e. buying) care for Children and Young People.
• We are clinically led by a senior consultant paediatrician assisted by two clinical advisors, one is a consultant paediatrician and the other is a consultant nurse who are supported by the network team.
• The work of the network is overseen by a children’s steering group, which includes doctors, midwives, patients, commissioners (people who “buy” health services to be supplied to people), public health workers and other people who drive improvements in this area.
• The children’s steering group reports to the Greater Manchester Children’s Health and Wellbeing Forum.
• Work is delivered alongside the Strategic Clinical Networks for Children’s and Adolescent Mental Health and Maternity.
• The area we cover is Greater Manchester (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Salford, Trafford, Tameside, Wigan) and Eastern Cheshire.
• Our work covers Children and Young People from 4 weeks of age until their 25th birthday.

What are our aims?

• Developing a strong, cohesive strategic clinical network team for Children and Young People.
• Identifying and enabling an engaged and empowered steering group.
• Reducing variation in children’s and young people’s services across Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire.
• Making sure patients, carers, doctors, nurses and families have a voice in designing and developing services.
• Identifying and supporting the implementation of best practice and improved services, as recommended by doctors and nurses.
• Working with our partners to improve safety.

 How do we do it?

• Networking and partnership working allows our steering group to identify where improvements can be made.
• Providing clinical expertise and input to improve services where changes are required.
• Once identified, special interest or task and finish groups are established, with designated leads and representation from appropriate disciplines, to develop guidelines through gaining clinical consensus across the network to improve services and reduce variation in services between areas.
• Lead and/or facilitate working groups which are aligned with delivering the SCN work programme.

Currently, we are working in the following areas:

• Preventing Avoidable Hospital Admissions for Long Term Conditions such Asthma, Diabetes and Epilepsy.
• Improving self management by patients and their families.
• Developing the work of schools and school nurses to manage the conditions.
• Determining a young people’s passport to help manage the conditions.
• Supporting the implementation of standard care pathways.
• Improving transition from paediatric to adult services.
• Improving and standardising Children’s Community Nursing Services and Paediatric Observation and Assessment Units in hospitals.
• Improving paediatric bed management in hospitals across Greater Manchester.

How can I get involved?

The views of the public are very important to us. Our Patients, Carers and Public Involvement Engagement Advisory Group plays an important role in our steering group.

To contact us to find out more about how to get involved, please email us at england.gmec-scn@nhs.net.