In this section
Children’s Theatres are a highly educated multidisciplinary workforce who are dynamic, highly motivated and thrive on teamwork. We are committed to caring for children and their families requiring increased levels of intervention and monitoring.
The unit has 10 theatres and a recovery area which provides a comprehensive service to neonates, children and adolescents that require both elective and emergency intervention over a 24-hour period.
We cover a wide range of surgical specialities including:
- Burns & Plastics
- Major Spinal Surgery
- Orthopaedics
- Neurosurgery
- Trauma
The department promotes family centred care that encourages the parents to visit theatre with their children prior to admission and welcomes parental presence in the anaesthetic room and the recovery room.
The Children’s Theatres are located on the first floor of Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, opposite Ward 76 Day Case, where most of our patients are admitted before surgery.
In RMCH, we do around 12,000 operations per year, along with covering other procedures at Trafford General Hospital and The Christie Hospital.
Our theatres are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for emergency operations. Most of our elective procedures are done Monday to Friday, though we do run a service at weekends.
Children arriving for elective operations will check in first to a ward before being brought to theatres. Emergency patients are admitted through the Paediatric Emergency Department (A & E). At times, our theatres can be very busy so patients may be asked to stay in our waiting area before their surgical team is ready. Unfortunately, we are only able to accommodate one adult with each patient in the waiting area and anaesthetic rooms but we can welcome two adults into Recovery once a child is waking up.
Specialities
We cover a range of surgical and medical specialities including Burns and Plastics, Cleft Lip, ENT, Dental, Gastroscopy, General Surgery, Neonatal, Nephrology, Neurosurgery, Orthopaedics, Respiratory, Spinal, Trauma and Urology. Read more about our expertise at Our services/Anaesthetics and theatres
Developments
Staff from the Children’s Theatres work closely with our colleagues at The Christie Hospital within the Proton Beam Therapy Unit. We look forward to welcoming and caring for all the children and their families that will be visiting us.