Heartbeat

Ocean Ward

The Wessex Cardiac Centres reputation for the treatment of children is world renowned. Patients, 40% of them under 1 year old, come not only from central southern England but also from Cornwall, Devon and the Channel Islands and undergo the most advanced treatment for many different congenital heart disorders.

Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart conditions over the last quarter of a century has resulted in almost 1,000 children a year now passing through the paediatric ward of the WCC, with a steadily increasing number of them continuing to receive treatment through adolescence and as adults.

We are pleased to say that the ward has now been transformed into one of the finest facilities of its kind in the UK and is able to provide:

• a paediatric high care ward providing a ‘half way house' between intensive care and the ward (or, in some cases, an alternative to intensive care) which relieves the pressure on over-stretched intensive care facilities ;
  
• accommodation for parents of the youngest or sickest children;
  
• improved recreational and educational facilities for young children; and
  
• a dedicated service for the treatment of adolescents and adults with congenital heart problems.

The Wessex Cardiac Centre is one of only a few centres in the UK offering the full range of treatments for children born with serious heart disorders. The redeveloped facilities of are now a model for the rest of the country in how to manage and treat children with heart disease.