Schiehallion

Call: 0141 452 4450

Location: Level 2. Follow the signs to Atrium, Take Lift/Stair to Level 2, Exit Lift/Stair at Level 2, Walk along the corridor and Turn Left. Ward 2A is straight ahead

Find your way here from the main entrance (PDF map)

Call: 0141 452 4475

Location: Level 2. Follow the signs to Atrium, Take Lift/Stair to Level 2, Exit Lift/Stair at Level2, Ward 2B is on your left.

Find your way here from the main entrance (PDF map)

This project has involved an £8.9 million investment in significant upgrade work, including replacement of the ventilation systems, and once open the ward will provide the highest-quality environment that is fully suited to the needs of our young patients and their families.

A considerable amount of work throughout the ward has been carried out, including a full refurbishment of all ensuites to provide a safe, high-quality environment for everyone.

We would like to give special thanks for the tremendous fund-raising efforts of former patients Molly Cuddihy and Sara Millar, who have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the hospital and enabled the creation of a new, purpose-built chill-out area for children aged 8-12 years, to go alongside spaces for younger children and teenagers, which has been supported by The Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT).

Ward 2A has a parents’ kitchen and that also been included in the renovation. It is a light, comfortable space which allows parents to store and prepare food, make a cup of tea, or just take five minutes to chat with others.
Single bedrooms will have built-in, fold-down beds which will help parents have more comfortable overnight stays.

Ward 2A is the inpatient part of the ward and it comprises 24 patient rooms, play and social areas for all age groups, and a parent kitchen and sitting area.

Ward 2B is the Schiehallion day care unit and houses five treatment rooms and two, four-bed bay areas. Most of the treatment given to your child or young person will be in the shared bed bays.

The bright, colourful ‘Schiehallion’ logo at the door greets those arriving and inside the decor has been created with young people in mind. We’re aware that any stay in hospital can be a daunting experience for children, so we’ve tried to make the surroundings as welcoming as possible.

As with all other paediatric services, the new ward will provide holistic care, looking after our patients’ mental wellbeing as well as their physical needs.

Schiehallion Ward is supported by a Health Play Assistant and a Health Play Support Worker. Our dedicated Play Team are here to interact with all our babies, children and young people, providing daily normalising play activities that are free from any aspect of medical intervention, as well as developmental play for our children that are in hospital for a long time. In addition, we have two Health Play Specialists who will work with children and young people to understand aspects of their clinical care through the use of play and role play, as well as provide specific distraction during treatments and procedures.

In every room, we have installed new iPads complete with a new entertainment system that allows them access to TV, films, games and other interactive services.

Children and young people have played an important role in making sure that the offering on the iPads is not only age-appropriate, but also what our young patients need and want. Our Play Team recently surveyed more than 70 young people to gauge their opinion on the service we provide, and the results have helped shape our TV and digital service throughout the RHC.

Ward 2A provides play and socialising spaces for all our patients, no matter what their age.

Alongside the new facilities a new menu will be offered to patients in Schiehallion.

Meals are tasty, nutritious and varied, with vegetarian options and soft easy to chew choices available. A vegan menu is available on request and a range of special diets, including low potassium/ no added salt, low fibre/low residue, food allergies and texture modified, as well as Kosher and Halal are catered for.

In addition, for some of our young patients on Ward 2A, we know how important it is that they can have something to eat whenever they feel able, and to help cater for that there will now be an out-of-hours snack menu until 10pm each evening, offering a range of favourite items including burgers, chicken nuggets and toasties.

As is the case throughout the hospital, our water meets all national standards and is safe to drink.

In addition, as is the case in all areas of the hospital, the water undergoes a process of filtration and regular dosing with Chlorine Dioxide.

Where our most vulnerable patients are cared for, such as Ward 2A/2B, you’ll see additional filters on the taps. This is an extra level of protection for patients and is part of a rigorous system of care and regular maintenance for our taps, as well as the water system as a whole.

There are 11 separate ventilation systems serving the ward, all of which are finely balanced to provide exactly the environment that every child needs. Every system has a back-up, meaning that ventilation will remain uninterrupted if there is an issue with a unit, or if maintenance work is required. The air coming into Ward 2A is filtered using HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filtration, and bedrooms achieve 10 air changes per hour to ensure continuous fresh air.

In addition, the system now uses a ‘pressure cascade’, which provides another layer of protection by ensuring that air will always flow away from vulnerable patients, out into the corridors and ultimately out of the ward.

All this means that the ventilation system is helping us to provide the highest-quality environment for all patients.

Our key priority is the care and wellbeing of our patients and, through the extensive work we have carried out, we are confident that we now have the highest-quality and safest environment in which to look after them.

We have put in place the best safeguards we can, and the ward will be monitored closely by our infection control experts and estates teams. This means that, as is the case in all wards across our hospitals, if any issues arise we will be able to put in measures quickly to ensure the safety of patients.

The extensive work we have done within Ward 2A/2B and the highly sophisticated systems we have put in place, alongside our continued commitment to infection prevention and control, mean we are in the best possible position to keep our young patients safe.

We are continually monitoring the unit, more than any other hospital in the UK, to provide rigorous assurance of the ongoing safety of the hospital environment.