Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Children's Community Specialist Nursing Service

This specialist service is for children and young people living in Cambridgeshire. A referral is needed.

Contact us

In Cambridgeshire you can contact our service 7 days a week 9am to 5pm (except for Christmas day and Boxing day). Outside of these hours please leave a voicemail and a member of our team will get back to you.

Telephone number - 01223 218061
Children's Community Nursing Team email address - ccs-tr.ccncambridge@nhs.net
Complex Care Team email address - ccs.childrenscomplexcare@nhs.net
Specialist School Nursing Team email address - ccs-tr.snsn@nhs.net
Professionals - referral forms and guidance

Welcome to our service

Hello and welcome to our website. We are the Children’s Community Specialist Nursing Service. We are a multi-disciplinary team working in the community across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The service has 3 bases Huntingdon, Cambridge and Peterborough. We are here to support children and young people with their healthcare needs in the home school or any other community or clinic setting. We really hope our website will be helpful.

Our team provide care to children and young people from birth to 18 years of age if in full time education (19 if in full time special education). We support and teach families to maintain their child at home or wherever it is safe to do so.

Our team aims to prevent hospital admission and facilitate early hospital discharge wherever possible. We provide:
- intravenous medication
- oncology care and support
- wound care/dressings, oxygen therapy, care for complex health needs
- Palliative and end of life nursing care
- Chronic disease management including enteral feeding and gastrostomy, tracheostomy, assisted ventilation
- Cystic Fibrosis care and support (Peterborough only)
- Specialist play input to enable children to manage their fears about their illness and provide pre and post-bereavement support to siblings
Cambridgeshire Children's Community Nursing Team

Peterborough Children's Community Nursing Team
Our Complex Care Team provides respite to children aged 0 to 18 years who meet the criteria for 'Children’s Continuing Care’ and complex case management to children and young people with long term complex health conditions within the community. Our team can:
- Maximise treatment and inclusion of children with complex health needs both in the social and educational settings.
- Help children with chronic conditions and their families become experts in the management of their care.
- Support families to provide a quality death for their child in the place of their choice
- Minimise and avert crises and maintaining the child’s emotional and social wellbeing
- Enable other members of the family to take part in activities that may not be suitable for the child with medical needs.
- Avoid hospital admission wherever possible and facilitating early hospital discharge.
Our team provides safe, professional healthcare guidance to schools for pupils aged 4 to 19 with special needs. This includes children and young people with disabilities and complex health needs. We provide:
- telephone advice for families
- training and advice for school staff
- pre-school home visits for children with complex health needs
- coordination with specialist services and GP practices
Our Cambridgeshire play specialists support all our teams working with families. We provide help using 'PLAY'
- Play introduces normality in a strange environment.
- Lessons the impact of pain and anxiety.
- Allow your child to work through feelings and fears.
- Yields results by encouraging a faster recovery.
Our Cambridgeshire Family Support Team works with families and professionals to create a holistic approach care. The effects of caring for a sick child with complex and chronic medical conditions can be overwhelming for families. We can help provide:
- emotional/psychological support
- post diagnostic counselling
- counselling following acute and chronic conditions
- cognitive behavioural therapy
- pre and post-bereavement support
Our service is open to all children up to the age of 18 and their parents/caregivers who are registered with a Cambridgeshire GP.

Referrals for emotional/psychological support can only be made to the Family Support Practitioner via a member of the Children’s Community Specialist Nursing Service who is involved with you or your child. If eligible, you will be offered 6 sessions.
- Administrators are very skilled NHS professionals that provide all the organisational support for the clinical teams. They are also the friendly voices at the other end of the phone when contacting the service. This include our Complex Care Administrators.
- Children’s Community Nurses look after children and young people with acute medical needs so they can stay out of hospital. For example, they could look after someone with a wound that needs dressing or someone that needs special medication. They also look after children and young people with complex healthcare needs like cardiac conditions or childhood cancer. They are supported by our health care support workers and nursing associates.
- Complex Care Nurses help children and young people who have complex health issues or continuing care needs. They give support and advice to families to help the manage the care of their child. They are supported by carers who look after children and young people in their homes by providing respite care.
- Healthcare Support Workers work under the supervision of a healthcare professional, supporting them and helping families manage their children's health in the community.
- Play Specialists work with children and young people of all ages to help them cope with their illness or nursing procedure they may need by having fun.
- Special Needs School Nurses look after children who attend special schools in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. They help families and schools to children and young people aged 4 to 19 with special needs to access education.
We work in the community across the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We have bases in Cambridge, Huntingdon and Peterborough.

Specialist School Nursing Service is provided in the following schools:
- Spring Common School, Huntingdon
- Samuel Pepys School, St Neots
- Granta School, Cambridge
- Castle School, Cambridge
- Highfield School, Ely (outreach only)
- Meadowgate School, Wisbech
- Heltwate and Lime Academy Orton Schools, Peterborough
- Littleport and East Cambs Academy
- Universal service to the area special schools in Cambridgeshire (exc. Heltwate and Phoenix).

More information about our services and offer

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Online learning and training

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Peeing, pooing and toileting advice

Professionals - referral forms, guidance and training

Please call our team before making a referral. To speak to our Cambridgeshire team please call 01223 218061. To speak to our Peterborough team please call 01733 847 060.

To make a referral please complete the Children’s Community Specialist Nursing Service referral form.

If you are professional and you require training for a child accessing your service please email ccs.gen-cambs-cnt-cwtraining@nhs.net. Please include details of the child what training is require.

Training is also available in our 'Online Learning' section.

Children’s Community Specialist Nursing Service Referral Form

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Delivering excellence in Children and Young People’s Services: a partnership between Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.