What's the age range on a children's ward in a UK hospital?

Question

In the book I'm writing, a girl of 15 spends some time in hospital. Now, with the kind of injury she has, she'd initially be in an intensive care ward, but once she's well enough, I suspect she'd be moved to an ordinary ward.

My brother was in hospital when he was 15, and he was on the men's ward, but that was over 20 years ago and I don't know if things have changed. What I want to know is would a 15-year-old be on a children's ward rather than an adult one?

Also, are children's wards for children of all ages, or are they split between younger and older kids? 

Essentially I want to know whether a girl of 15 could be stuck on a ward with a bunch of whining, puking little ones.

The book is set in England.

I've already asked this question in the Parenting section but thought I may as well put it in here as well...

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I starred this so you'll get an accurate answer from someone who knows.

But doing a basic search on google it shows different age-ranges per hospital so I think the rules are specific to the hospital.

This link says they hold kids up to 16 (or 18 if a full time student): http://www.northamptongeneral.nhs.uk/OurServices/Clinical/ChildHealth/ChildrensWards/ChildrensWards.aspx

Another hospital seemed to manage the wards by the severity of the wounds and the number of beds they had. And this one holds kids up to 19 years old: http://www.uhns.nhs.uk/OurServices/ClinicalServices/AZofClinicalServices/Maternity/ChildrensWards.aspx

So, it seems that it's realistic if she stayed in the ward with different age-ranges.

Trending News

What's the age range on a children's ward in a UK hospital?

1 Answer