Building a Better Future: FAQs

You can help build a better future for our patients

Sheffield Children’s Hospital prides itself on delivering world-class care for thousands of children every week but we need help to redevelop the environment they are treated in. You can help build a better future for the 200 children a day who visit our Emergency Department, the 90 to 100 patients a year who are treated on our Cancer and Leukaemia Ward as well as the Major Trauma patients who arrive via helicopter when every second counts.

We need your help, and we need it now! But if you aren't sure about anything here are a few FAQs

Let’s take care to the next level, you can make it better!

  • How much do we need raise?

    We need to raise £14.25million for the appeal between 2018 to March 2023. Here’s a breakdown:

    • Emergency Department - £4.5million
    • Helipad - £6million
    • Ward 6 (previously M3) - £2.75million
    • CAU- £1million

    As well as the above we need to raise £5.75million for our annual charity commitments such as Artfelt, research and other projects within the hospital.

  • Why does the hospital need to be redeveloped?

    Sheffield Children’s Hospital provides world class care for children in the region and beyond. The environment can make all the difference for patients’ recovery and their families’ time at the hospital. Some of the facilities don’t match up to the standard that we believe children and families deserve. This appeal will help our clinicians provide even better care.

  • Why isn't the NHS funding the refurbishment?

    The NHS funds the care at Sheffield Children's Hospital which will continue during and after the appeal. We want to make the experience of being treated at our hospital even better. The environment can affect our wellbeing and help our patients get better quicker. Coming to hospital can often be stressful for the patient and their family. Not having a seat to sit in our Emergency Department or having to arrive in Weston Park by helicopter, cross a busy road with everyone watching or having to go to a different ward for a bath or a shower is something we can improve on.

    If we relieve that stress by creating an environment that is both for the family as well as the patients, with natural light, privacy for treatment and a bed for a parent to sleep next to their child, we can make a real difference and change patients’ lives

  • Why does the Sheffield Children’s Hospital’s Emergency Department need your help?

    Sheffield Children’s Hospital Emergency Department, which is also a Major Trauma Centre serving South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, sees around 60,000 children come through its doors every year with every possible problem imaginable.As the population of Sheffield and the region has grown, so has the demand on our services.The department was originally built to see a maximum of 32,000 patients a year, and is now in desperate need to be expanded to meet the current needs of the children that come to us with illnesses and injuries.We want all the children and families who attend our department to not just receive the best care but also to have the best experience.

  • What will the redevelopment of the Emergency Department look like?

    We want to create more space, privacy and places to play, easing the stress of what is often a very difficult time. We do not want patients to be unable to sit down for lack of space in the waiting room and we do not want our amazing Emergency Department team to be struggling to find space to see and treat those children.

  • Will a new Emergency Department mean patients will be seen quicker?

    You will still receive the same outstanding treatment now, during and after the build, however if a clinician has everything they need in a space built specifically for that need, then that will mean your experience will get even better

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  • Where will the Emergency Department go?

    The Emergency Department will expand in its current location. The Child Assessment Unit, which is next to the Emergency Department, will be relocated into a more appropriate environment and size, as the current location is no longer fit for purpose due to the nature of work.

  • What is the Child Assessment Unit?

    The Child Assessment Unit sees South Yorkshires most vulnerable children aged 16 years and under with recent (acute) and historic sexual abuse. The unit also facilitates assessment of child abuse and neglect.This service has been available since 2013 and is an impartial place for medical professionals, South Yorkshire police and social services to help young people at what can be a life changing part of their life.

    The department’s physical environment and size is no longer fit for purpose. Relocating will result in significantly improved facilities, providing additional clinical space. Currently if a child protection clinic is running and the clinical space is being used, we have to delay a sexual assault referral and cannot see that child until space becomes available.Increased clinical space, including an additional consultancy room and examination room will mean our most vulnerable children will not need to wait.

  • Why does the Sheffield Children’s Hospital need public help for this project?

    Sheffield Children’s Hospital is an NHS institution which is mainly dependent on government funding.Charity funding helps to ensure that what we build and deliver meets the exact needs of children and their families.Charity funding also facilitates the creation of the best possible services development.Your support for this through any charitable donations will make a difference not just to the care that children receive but the way that they receive it.We want children who come to us for treatment to have the best possible experience, delivered to them by a team who has everything that they could possibly need to give children and their families what they need in the way that works best.

  • Will I still be able to go to receive treatment during the refurbishment?

    Absolutely. All treatment and services will remain the same but they will be in a different part of the hospital. You will still receive the world-class care from the Emergency Department Team and Ward 6. All major trauma facilities will remain open giving brilliant care.

  • Why do we need a Helipad?

    We need to get patients who urgently need critical care to our hospital as soon as possible. It really is the difference between life and death - the first 60 minutes are critical. Helicopters currently land in Weston Park and patients are then transported across a busy road before entering our Emergency Department. As you can imagine, there are added complications to consider in the park such as the weather, events which may be taking place, even crossing the road which requires a police escort.

  • Who is treated on Ward 6?

    Ward 6 (formerly M3) is where we care for children and teenagers with cancer and blood disorders; it is the Principal Treatment Centre for children with cancer and leukaemia from babies through to 19 year olds within South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Derbyshire. Patients travel from as far south as Northampton for treatment at our special hospital.

    The ward has 14-beds unit, six of which are isolation cubicles for children who need to be isolated to prevent infections, for example bone marrow transplant patients. There are also four day beds so some children can receive day case treatment on the ward.

  • Why do we need to build a new Ward 6 / Cancer Ward?

    The facilities are currently tired and cramped, with little natural light or space for a parent to sleep next to their child at probably one of the most stressful times of their life. Bathing facilities are not available on the ward and whilst the care the patients receive is world-class, the facilities they receive it in are not.

    We don’t want our children to feel isolated when they are in an isolation room - we want to build them a bedroom which they can make their own with space to play in and be with their family. Many of the bedrooms currently don’t have a view and when you are in isolation, this can have an affect on your wellbeing. The new ward will maximize the view of Weston Park, making our patients feel connected to the outside whilst they are getting better as well as create privacy and make isolation a place of sanctuary and calm.

  • Why is Ward 6 / Cancer Ward being developed and not the other wards?

    If money was no object and we could raise it all, we would redevelop all of the wards!

    Redevelopment of our hospital takes time and we are committed to creating a hospital built with children in mind, which includes developing our wards. Three of our existing wards were redeveloped in Phase 1 and patients moved across in April 2018. Now we need to make Ward 6 as special.