Earlier this year, Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was proud to launch our new Paediatric Diagnostic Airway Service. This vital piece of equipment is used to help children with airway (such as recurrent Croup), voice and swallowing issues in the Surrey region.
David Fluck, Medical Director at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals said "I am incredibly proud to announce the arrival of our Paediatric Diagnostic Airway Service. This is a significant addition to our hospital and represents our commitment to providing the highest standard of care for our youngest patients. Thank you to everyone involved in making this possible.” This is the first piece of equipment of its type in Surrey Heartlands ICS and will provide a huge benefit to children who, previously, would have been referred out to specialist centres. Paediatric patients will now be able to access the service closer to home which we hope will be far more convenient for them.
This vital service is offered to children who are over 12kg and over 2 years old and are suffering from airway or swallowing issues. It was set up by Dr Kiran Varadharajan , Consultant ENT and Paediatric ENT Surgeon and Dr Rik Hawkins, Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist and supported by our excellent paediatric MDT team made up of anaesthetists, ODPs, theatre nurses, paediatricians and the paediatric nursing staff on Oak Ward.
Mr Kiran Varadharajan said: “It’s a great privilege for our trust to be able to offer children and parents this invaluable tertiary level service in Surrey. We hope this will help drive care closer to home for children and babies in the area.”
A huge thank you to everyone in the team for helping to launch this fantastic new service.
Pictured top: The team on the day of the first case
