Respiratory (Paediatrics)

• Asthma and complex asthma.
• Complex respiratory disorders.
• Cystic fibrosis.
• Non-CF bronchiectasis.
• Long Term Ventilation.
• Sleep Disordered Breathing.
• Recurrent respiratory infections in children with complex medical needs, especially those with neuromuscular conditions or cerebral palsy.
• Respiratory problems related to cleft palate, scoliosis or other surgical issues.
• Pneumothorax.
• Respiratory problems related to or due to immunodeficiency.

• Regional Flexible Bronchoscopy service.
• Home Overnight sleep studies (oximetry, oxycapnography and cardiorespiratory study).
• In-Patient (cardiorespiratory) Sleep studies.
• Lung function testing including fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNo) and nasal nitric oxide (nNO).
• Sweat Chloride Testing.

The Paediatric Respiratory Medical team is comprised of 6 specialist children’s respiratory consultants who provide care in this field not just for Cambridge but across the whole of the East of England.

In addition to providing expert opinions 24/7, they undertake daily outpatient clinics across a variety of respiratory conditions working closely with the Paediatric Respiratory Multi-Disciplinary Team in addition to other teams within the hospital including Ear, Nose and Throat, Radiology and Paediatric Surgery. They are research active.

The service also provides training for doctors aspiring to become experts within this field.

Research is important as it helps to advance clinical care by identifying new treatments and strategies to improve the health and outcome of our patients.

Research responds to new information and technology, looking for the evidence to provide the best clinical care. New studies are always starting, and you may have heard of a study that is currently not on this website. Please do ask the medical, nursing and research team if you would like take part in a study that is not listed. Further information about current research studies are found on the links below.

Research Nurse - Helen Hysted

The research nurse is a registered nurse who supports the delivery of clinical trials/studies for children and young people with respiratory problems. Helen also supports research delivery for other specialities within paediatrics.

• Email Helen Hysted

Current clinical trials

BACHb

Bronchiolitis: Infants with severe bronchiolitis who are eligible to participate will be randomly allocated to start either high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).

• More information can be found on the BACHb trial website (opens in a new tab).

CARE-UK asthma study

What is the CARE-UK study all about?

To see if a combination inhaler can reduce asthma attacks in children aged 5-11 years.

This combination inhaler has been shown to work well in older children and adults. However, this treatment option is not currently available to children under 12 years old due to insufficient existing clinical trial data.

This combo inhaler contains both a long-lasting reliever and a preventer steroid medicine. This two-in-one inhaler aims to relieve immediate symptoms and also deals with underlying inflammation. It can either be used as needed or every day for both reliever and maintenance treatment.

• More information can be found on the CARE-UK website (opens in a new tab).

Contact details:

• Email Helen Hysted

Useful links

• NIHR - Be Part of Research (opens in a new tab)
• Asthma + Lung UK - Research in lung health (opens in a new tab)
• Cystic Fibrosis Trust - Clinical Trials Accelerator Platform (opens in a new tab)
• University of Cambridge - Department of Paediatrics (opens in a new tab)

Respiratory physiotherapy is a vital part of managing long term conditions and they work alongside the Respiratory doctors and other members of the Respiratory team. They are present in the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) clinics, Difficult Asthma, Complex Chest and Lung Defence clinics.

They also run their own Respiratory Physiotherapy clinic once a week for children who have problems with breathing. Respiratory Physiotherapy focuses on maintaining and improving lung health by means of airway clearance, correction of breathing patterns and physical exercise for overall fitness and improving posture.

Our aim is to optimise a child’s nutritional intake to help them achieve their full potential, taking into account their age, nutritional needs, treatment, and medical condition.

Upon referral from the Respiratory Consultants Paediatric Dietitians provide nutritional support and advice for children with respiratory conditions who are admitted to the paediatric wards at Addenbrookes Hospital.

Specialist Paediatric CF dietitians are an integral part the CF team. We work with families from diagnosis through to transition into adolescence and adulthood. We focus on your child’s individual nutritional needs at every stage. We closely monitor your child’s weight and growth and provide advice on diet, nutritional support, enzymes and vitamins.

We are available at CF clinic appointments, CF annual reviews and during inpatient admissions. We and can be contacted by telephone or email between visits.

We work closely with Paediatric Dietitians at CF shared care centres and across the East of England.

• Contact CF Dietitians

The Paediatric Dietitians at Addenbrookes Hospital provide a dietetic service to a number of specialist clinics that your child may be referred to. We also provide a dietetic service to local patients who are seen within the Lung Defence Clinic.

Children’s Dietitians page

The paediatric psychologists work closely with other members of the Respiratory team to support children, young people and their families to understand and cope with any difficulties they might be experiencing as a result of their health condition. This might include coping with medication and procedures, support with the difficult thoughts or feelings that can come from living with a health condition (such as anxiety, sadness and anger), and support to manage the impact that this can have on other areas of life (such as school and relationships).

The paediatric psychologists meet with families regularly as part of the Cystic Fibrosis clinics. A psychologist will also be part of the assessment appointments in the Complex Asthma clinics. If you are coming to one of the other Respiratory service clinics and you would like support from the psychology team, you will be able to discuss a referral with your doctor, nurse, or other health professional.

The Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) are registered nurses who have chosen to specialise and care for children aged 0-16 years who have a respiratory diagnosis. We aim to deliver expert, evidence-based, high quality and safe care for our patients.

The CNS team work cohesively with the other members of the MDT team to achieve the best outcomes for our patients. We care for patients within the Cystic Fibrosis (CF), Long Term Ventilation, Sleep, Asthma, Complex Chest and Lung Defence clinics.

The CNS team are often the first point of contact for patients and their families to discuss respiratory health, and to offer advice and support. We foster the treatment and management of patients’ health concerns, whilst working to promote holistic health and wellbeing.

The CNS team are also involved in the diagnostic testing of patients. These tests include lung function, peak flow, forced expiratory nitric oxide, nasal nitric oxide, blood tests, sweat tests, and airborne allergy testing.

We also play an integral role in teaching and training patients and carers; and provide education and support for nurses and schools/nurseries. In addition we participate in audit and research within the Paediatric Respiratory Service.

Our outpatient clinics are normally in clinic 6 or the CDC. If you have any questions please ring clinic 6 via the hospital switchboard.

Children and young people who require a hospital stay are normally cared on F3, D2, HDU or C3 ward.

• Together For Short Lives (opens in a new tab)
• Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) Family Support Group (opens in a new tab)
• Immunodeficiency UK (opens in a new tab)
• Asthma and Lung UK (opens in a new tab)
• Beat Asthma (opens in a new tab)
• PCD support (opens in a new tab)
• Cystic Fibrosis Trust (opens in a new tab)
• Muscular Dystrophy UK- Duchenne (opens in a new tab)
• Bronchiectasis in children (opens in a new tab)

• Normalising dysfunctional breathing (opens in a new tab)
• Effective ACBT (opens in a new tab)
• Proper posture (opens in a new tab)
• Effective OPEP (opens in a new tab)
• Nasal rinsing (opens in a new tab)
• Breathlessness (opens in a new tab)
• Exercise with babies (opens in a new tab)