Dr Nick Barnes
Private Paediatrician
Care for your child from a Consultant Paediatrician
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A complete review of your child's health
Whatever is troubling your child, at their first assessment in my private clinic I will undertake a complete review of their health.
My aim is to carefully place their current symptoms in the widest possible context, taking full account of all medical, social and psychological factors that may be relevant.
Depending on the nature of the problem, a first assessment will be complete in 45-60 minutes.
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Which children do I see?
These are some examples of my practice
About me
General Medical Council 4203735
Qualifications: MB, BS (Distinction, London), BSc Molecular Medicine, MRCP (UK)
I have been a Consultant Paediatrician since 2006
I began medical training in 1989 as a university student at The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in London, qualifying with Distinction as a doctor in 1995. I then continued specialist Paediatric training in London, completing a number of posts at leading institutions including Great Ormond Street, The Royal Brompton and The Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals. Moving to the Oxford Region in 2000, I spent a further 6 years training and preparing for life as a Consultant Paediatrician. During that time I enjoyed 4 years at The John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford in posts as varied as Cardiology, Newborn Intensive Care, Children's Chest medicine and Paediatric Intensive Care.
I secured an NHS Consultant Paediatrician post in 2006, joining the team at Northampton General Hospital where I still continue and enjoy medical practice every day. In this role I care for children of all ages, from as diverse as the baby born 17 weeks early, to the 17 year old teenager. I am now the lead hospital clinician both for newborn care and for children's heart disease, and I also periodically supervise the delivery of care in an Acute Paediatric Assessment Unit, into which GP's refer acutely unwell children requiring emergency treatment and admission to hospital.
Professional memberships: Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, British Congenital Cardiac Association.
Which other medical professionals do I work with?
Nicola Wolfe
Paediatric Dietitian
Diploma in dietetics (Leeds Metropolitan)
Nicola has extensive experience in hospital-based dietetic practice, and is expert in assessing nutritional intake, offering practical strategies to help ensure you child eats a nutritionally balanced diet. She can support you in feeding your baby and managing weaning, and has significant expertise in managing cow and soya milk protein intolerance. Her portfolio extends to managing toddler food refusal, and to devising a tailored dietary plan either to support safe weight loss in the overweight child, or to maximise calorie intake for the child who finds eating a challenge. Nicola has significant experience of working with children with eating disorders.
My Tips
Advice, recommendations, information
The thought of one's child being infected with COVID can be frightening, but virtually all recover very quickly without the need for any specific treatment, admission to hospital or long term consequence. With such a wealth of information available on-line it can difficult to know where to start to access reliable advice. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (rcpch.ac.uk) has some excellent free resources for parents, including guidance on vaccination for 12-15 year olds, the use of anti-inflammatory medicines and which children and young children are considered to be clinically vulnerable during the pandemic. The site www.nhs.uk also has a helpful dedicated section on COVID 19 in children that includes a description of typical symptoms and how to get help when you need it.
Many parents will be all too aware of tragic stories that appear periodically in the media reporting the sudden death of a seemingly perfectly fit and well child whilst exercising, understandably provoking the question 'Should we have our child screened?'. Mercifully, these cases are very rare, but screening can play a useful role in reducing risk significantly, although not completely. A simple history assessment, examination, ECG and heart ultrasound can detect many of the dangerous heart structural and electrical rhythm abnormalities, years before they become symptomatic. Charitable organisations such as 'Cardiac Risk in the Young' (www.c-r-y.org.uk) have well established succesful screening programmes, and in some countries e.g. Italy, it is mandatory for all young people engaged in organised sport to undergo screening, significantly reducing the risk of young sudden cardiac death. If you would like your child screened, please contact my personal assistant.
Much has been written about the safety of immunisations, and the internet is awash with fact, opinion and misinformation. If you are having any doubts about immunising your child, read more...