RESIDENT MEDICAL OFFICERS' UNIT

Paediatric Surgery

The Department of Paediatric Surgery is a small but active unit that provides inpatient/outpatient surgical care for the children of Canterbury and the West Coast as well as providing outreach paediatric surgical services to Invercargill, Dunedin, Timaru, Blenheim and Nelson.

The unit consists of three paediatric surgical consultants, one senior paediatric surgical registrar, one house officer and two full time paediatric surgical research scientists. All general paediatric surgery on children up to the age of 15 are admitted under this unit. The unit also provides a surgical neonatal service to the neonatal unit at Womens' Hospital.

The unit runs 2-3 outpatient clinics a week, 3-4 elective operating sessions and provides 24 hour emergency cover for paediatric surgery. It works closely with both the departments of Paediatrics and Surgery. Major or complex cases are referred from Greymouth, Dunedin, Invercargill, Timaru, Blenheim and Nelson, and occasionally from the North Island. There are regular paediatric radiological and histopathological review sessions, a combined meeting with paediatric oncology and audit meetings. There is a weekly unit meeting and an in-house teaching programme. Either two or three trainee interns are attached to the unit at any one time.

For further information please contact

Professor Spencer W Beasley, Clinical Director, telephone (03) 364-0432, fax (03) 364-0352
email: spencer.beasley@cdhb.govt.nz