Have your say on how children’s emergency surgical care could be delivered for residents in north central London (NCL).

You have until Monday 21 July to share your thoughts. Information on how you can get involved is below.

The proposals

Neighbouring specialist hospitals, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and The Royal London Hospital are proposed as ‘centres of expertise’ for emergency surgery.

They would care for:

  • babies and children aged 0-3 for most types of surgery
  • babies and children aged 0-5 for general and urology surgery

These sites already provide care, including full paediatric anaesthetics coverage, for very young children across north London who need emergency surgery.

Key points of the proposals:

  • Currently, a small number of babies and young children are already being transferred to these specialist sites and these proposals would formalise and streamline this arrangement, thereby ensuring these children get the specialist surgery and care they need as quickly as possible, without delay. 
  • Local hospitals would continue to provide most emergency surgery for children aged over three years old (over fivers old for general surgery and urology).
  • Under these proposals, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) would continue to treat children who are medically and surgically complex and/or very high risk for anaesthesia, or who receive long-term treatment for an existing complex co-morbidity at GOSH.
  • The ‘centre of expertise’ babies and young children would be transferred to for assessment and emergency surgery would depend on which local hospital initially attended for treatment.

Centres of expertise for emergency care

Barnet Hospital, University College London Hospitals, Royal Free Hospital, Whittington Hospital: centre of excellence is Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

North Middlesex University Hospital: centre of excellence is Royal London Hospital 

How you can get involved

A four-week engagement period is being led by NCL Integrated Care Board and will take place from Monday 23 June to Monday 21 July 2025, to capture views on the impact of these potential changes.

You can share your feedback via this online questionnaire or email: nclicb.startwell@nhs.net

 

Read more on the NCL Integrated Care System website.