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New service to help children and young people with debilitating conditions and long COVID

11/05/2022
This article is more than one year old.

A partnership between Helen & Douglas House and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) is set to help young people living with chronic conditions and long COVID in South East England.

The Children's Rehabilitation Service is run by OUH and will offer an outpatient service, as well as accommodation for up to three inpatients, in a new, purpose-built location. 

The service was previously based in the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, but has now been relocated to a new purpose-built clinic on the ground floor of Douglas House, which was formerly the young adult's hospice, in Magdalen Road in Oxford.

The team based at this new location includes a Medical Consultant, Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist, Clinical Psychologist, Teacher, and Therapy Assistant. The services are wholly funded by the NHS.

The service will help children and young people and their families to manage their chronic pain and long COVID symptoms so they can return to most, or even all, activities of daily living.  The team take a holistic approach to treatment, including helping children talk about their feelings, addressing mental health problems, helping with sleep problems, and assisting with exercise. 

The facilities at Helen & Douglas are purpose-built to care for young people, and includes accommodation for families to stay over with their children, and are situated within calm and tranquil gardens.

Clare Periton, Chief Executive of Helen & Douglas House, said: "This is a very proud day for Helen & Douglas House, and we are delighted to welcome the Children’s Rehabilitation Service to our building on Magdalen Road.

"We have worked closely with OUH for many years. I think our supporters will be delighted to see the facility they helped build being used once again for its original purpose of caring for young people.

"This incredible collaboration very much aligns with our ethos of holistic care and complimentary therapies to ensure children and young people can enjoy life to the full.  It also offers a fantastic opportunity for our two paediatric teams to work even closer together to share knowledge and experience to enhance children’s health and wellbeing."

Dr Konrad Jacobs, lead for Children's Rehabilitation at OUH, said: "We are delighted to be based at Douglas House. Our patients do not require acute medical care like in hospital, and benefit from a tranquil environment. Additionally, Douglas House is perfect for rehabilitation in terms of its facilities. The close co-operation between Helen & Douglas House and the Children’s Rehabilitation team shows that, in some cases, the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts."

Pictured: CEO of Helen & Douglas House Clare Periton and, from OUH, Claire Anne Marie Van Es, Libby Lamb, and Kaylee Moran