Queen's Hospital children's A&E improvements call by campaigners

Claire Drummond Hurst, who has a child with special educational needs (SEND), is one of several mums calling for better care for their children, joined by Dagenham and Rainham MP Margaret Mullane.

She claims there are a lack of dedicated safe beds, which support children in the night, hoists to help them get in and “proper” changing rooms.

“Our goal is to make sure they are safe and can access just as any child or any person would,” she said.

“We want this for all children.”

Nic Kane, chief nurse at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), which oversees the hospital, previously apologised for families suffering “poor experiences” and said “we know our children’s A&E department is not always the best place to care for children with additional needs”.

Claire claimed that a lack of changing rooms meant that children up to 16 years old – many of whom are incontinent – are being changed on toilet floors or in the beds on the wards.

She argues that safe beds are provided by Great Ormond Street Hospital, a world-leading children’s hospital in central London.

“If some hospitals can provide them, why can’t all?” she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Claire also feels that there is little dedicated care for those aged between 16 and 18, who find themselves in “a bit of a limbo”.

“Our children are still really children so they can’t go into adult wards,” she said. “You just have to pray they don’t get ill.”

She argues that parents would feel children are being better cared for if staff training was improved.

“Some staff can seem afraid of our children,” she said.

“That child could be dysregulated, having a meltdown, and they are a little louder than perhaps other children but that’s just the way it is. You don’t need to be frightened.”

Mr Kane, BHRUT’s chief nurse, said: “We know our children’s A&E department is not always the best place to care for children with additional needs, and we’re sorry some families have had a poor experience.

“We will be meeting with Margaret Mullane MP and parents soon so we can discuss their concerns and how we can address them.

“We’ve worked closely with families where a child requires a specialist bed while in hospital, to ensure they are cared for safely.

“We also work alongside our learning disability (LD) team so children who attend frequently have LD passports, which help ensure we can support their needs.”

BHRUT is also pushing for £42million in government funding to totally rebuild the A&E department at Queen's.