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Helping You To Heal - Your Burns Pathway
Meet Bobby 👋 Bobby is here to talk you through what to expect if you need to be treated in hospital for a burn injury.
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Our network

The South West UK Paediatric (Childrens) Burn Service is based at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, part of University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, and treats around 1,000 children with burn injuries every year.

Our aim is to provide the highest quality care for all children referred with burns, scalds and other skin loss conditions including:

  • Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome
  • Toxic Epidermolysis Necrosis
  • Plastic surgery care required following meningococcal septicaemia.

We are the lead paediatric (Childrens) burn service for the South West UK Burns Operational Delivery Network (ODN) and as such will also accept referral of complex paediatric (Childrens) burns from the Central South Coast and South Wales and the South West.

We provide the highest quality, equitable, child/family friendly burn care for all children and their families, to achieve the best possible outcomes following burn injury within the South West ODN.

The service is based on Level 5 within the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. We have ward level and rehabilitation paediatric burn beds, thermo-regulated high-dependency beds, as well as access to Intensive Care level beds as needed within the hospital.

The burns assessment area within the ward has direct access via a dedicated patient lift from A&E and the on-site helicopter deck.

The clinical service is linked with the Children's Burns Research Centre which is a multi-disciplinary consortium led by Professor Alan Emond at the University of Bristol in partnership with Cardiff University, North Bristol NHS Trust, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, the University of the West of England, and the University of Bath. The centre is funded by UK charity the Healing Foundation with a £1.5 million grant for five years from 2012, with additional support from the Welsh Assembly National Institute for Social Care and Health Research (NISCHR).

The Children's Burns Research Centre's mission is to develop a UK research centre of world-leading excellence crossing clinical and academic boundaries for real patient benefit, to prevent burns and improve the outlook of children with burn injuries. The Clinical Research Theme, led by Dr Amber Young, builds on successful collaborations between the research team in Bristol and scientists at the University of Bath and the University of the West of England. The research programme focusses on burn wound management, including the development of 'smart' dressings for paediatric scalds which allow the detection and treatment of infection without dressing removal, and help to prevent bacterial resistance. Other clinical projects taking place at the centre include the assessment of volatile organic compounds (gases) emitted from discarded burns dressings and the ideal fluid resuscitation formula for children with moderate scalds. They are also developing a project to look at the treatment pathway for small area scalds.