Services

Ambulatory Paediatrics

Ambulatory services are delivered to Wellington and Kenepuru hospital with out reach clinics at the Kapiti health centre.

Wellington

The paediatric Outpatient department provides Nurse led, general and Specialist clinics. Also within the service is the 9 bed Paediatric dayward ( Monday to Friday) accommodates children undergoing both medical and surgical procedures.

Kenepuru

An acute assessment service is provided monday to friday. This service is primarily for children referred from their GP.

Outpatient services are also delivered from Kenepuru.

Child Development Team

The Child Development Team provide specialised assessments and interventions for children aged 0-16 years where there is a concern regarding:

An identified disability
A developmental delay/difficulties
Risk of development delay/difficulties (ie. prematurity)

The team is based at the Puketiro Centre at Kenepuru Hospital with satellite clinics at Wellington and Kapiti. For maps, see the Our Hospitals/Patient Information section of this site.

The team is made up of:

Developmental Paediatricians

Provide developmental assessments and/or examinations of children with delay or suspected delay in areas such as language, cognitive or motor development
Investigate the cause of any identified disabilities
Provide regular review of developmental progress

Occupational Therapists

Assess children’s coordination fine motor and visual perceptional abilities
Provide a programme of specific, goal-directed activities to improve identified areas of difficulty
Provide assessment for equipment to meet daily living needs

Physiotherapists

Provide functional assessment of children’s gross motor abilities and equipment needs
Provide treatment sessions and home/school programmes to improve posture, movement and function

Visiting Neurodevelopmental Therapist

Provide a home/community-based developmental assessment and intervention for children 0-5yrs
Provide family/whanau support
Liaise with other health professionals and community agencies
Provide assessment for equipment, enhance developmental to meet daily living needs

Clinical Psychologists

Provide specialist developmental assessments in areas such as neuropsychological, behavioural and emotional difficulties. Speciality areas include Autistic Spectrum and Feeding Assessments
Provide intervention by way of consultation and liaison with parents and other health and educational professionals who work with the child

Speech-language Therapists

Assess and advise with feeding and swallowing problems
Assess and provide help for pre-school children with communication difficulties including delayed development, speech and language disorders and fluency problems
Advise on augmentative communication systems and aids

Social worker:

Provides social assessment
Advocates for client and their family/whanau
Provides family/whanau support
Ensures family/whanau are aware and linked with appropriate agencies and other health professionals

Paediatric Community Nursing Service

The experienced nurses of the Paediatric Community Nursing Service provide generalist nursing services primarily in the community but also within inpatient and outpatient services. The nurses work from Wellington or Kenepuru Hospital covering the geographical area of Wellington to Waikanae. This service is available during normal working week hours but is available out-of hours for seriously ill children.

The service aims to:

Prevent avoidable admission or early discharge from hospital
Minimise impact of a personal health problem
Provide support to those with long term or chronic personal health problems/conditions
Promote self care and independence
Improve the health of Maori and Pacific Islanders by targeting services to best meet their health needs
Provide terminal/palliative care in the community where such services are not already provided

The service provides nurse continence clinics monthly and nurse eczema clinics weekly at Kenepuru and Wellington Hospitals.Outreach nurse eczema clinics are also held monthly at Ora Toa, Porirua and at Pacific Health in Strathmore. If you wish to attend one of these clinics a referral is required from your family health professional, such as your Plunket Nurse, Practice Nurse or GP.

Genetic Services

Genetic Services provide information and education, risk assessment and clinical management, diagnosis and laboratory testing, for a wide variety of genetic and/or congenital conditions.

The Central and Southern Regional Genetics Service (C&SRGS) located at Wellington Hospital is a diagnostic service which provides Genetic Services to half of the New Zealand population in the geographic area from New Plymouth to Invercargill.

The service includes a clinical unit and two laboratories (cytogenetic and molecular) and provides a wide variety of clinical, diagnostic, educational and professional services.