Centres of Excellence and National Centres

Alder Hey: A Place for Learning and Innovation

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust is one of Europe’s biggest and busiest children’s hospitals. It offers 20 specialist services including being the designated national centre for head and face surgery and a Centre of Excellence for children with cancer, heart, spinal and brain disease.

Our primary focus is to deliver the highest quality of care we can, both in terms of clinical safety, effectiveness and the experience our children and young people have whilst in our care. This focus and commitment is strengthened by our excellent performance year on year. Our patient mortality rates continue to be the best in class for all specialist paediatric hospitals in England. We are also proud that this year we have achieved our lowest infection rates, reduced our medication errors and received the highest standard of risk control for all clinical services from the NHS Litigation Authority – all this while treating the greatest number of patients ever!

At Alder Hey we are proud to be a renowned teaching hospital, taking on 550 medical students and 400 nursing students every year. We are also the first hospital in England to establish a permanent training base for the Advanced Society Health and Development Diploma onsite, which offers youngsters the unique chance to be taught by the hospital’s own staff. The diploma provides 16 to 18 year olds with an understanding of health, social care, children’s services and community justice, ensuring they have the basic skills needed to work successfully in all these areas.

Throughout its long history Alder Hey has gained a worldwide reputation as pioneers of children’s healthcare. Some of our most amazing and little known innovations and ‘firsts’ include:

· Today’s preferred technique in administering paediatric anaesthesia was pioneered at Alder Hey by Dr Jackson Rees.

· Mr Robert Jones was knighted for advancements made in x-ray and orthopaedic work at Alder Hey.

· First neonatal unit in the UK established at Alder Hey

· First University Institute of Child Health in the UK established at Alder Hey.

· Penicillin first tested at Alder Hey in 1944 to save a child critically ill with pneumonia.

· Splints and bespoke appliances first made at Alder Hey include the Jones Spinal Frame and the famous Thomas Splint.

· The most commonly encountered congenital heart defect in the UK was first cured at Alder Hey by Mr Edwards.

We are dedicated to continue investing in innovation and remaining a world class centre for children’s research and development while developing our services and facilities for our patients and their families. In the past year alone, we have opened a state-of-the-art specialist burn unit, refurbished our outpatient suite and redesigned a much more welcoming entrance to the hospital. Our single biggest innovation was the commissioning of Europe’s first dedicated paediatric intra-operative 3-T MRI scanner and theatre suite, made possible by a generous donation from the Barclay Foundation through our Imagine Appeal.