New East of England children’s palliative care service opens at Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge
A new 24-hour care system for children with terminal or life-threatening illnesses has launched for the East of England.
Based in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, and with extra funding from NHS England, the Regional Advice and Facilitation Team (RAaFT) will support children and their families through the toughest parts of their lives.
They will help provide end-of-life and support care to children and their families, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
This includes those suffering from cancer, issues owing to extreme prematurity, heart disease, cerebral palsy and other life-altering conditions.
Two full-time palliative doctors, one part time doctor, a pharmacist, a clinical psychologist and family therapist and two specialist nurses make up the support team.
The project was being spearheaded by Cambridge University Hospitals, alongside East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) and other partners in the area.
Its reach covers the entirety of the East of England, offering support to those in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
It even extends into Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
The CUH recommended investment in the palliative care service to ensure quality support to babies, children and young people that need specialised care, be they at home, in a hospice or hospital.
It was launched at an opening event this afternoon, which saw speakers from families of children who underwent palliative care.
This includes Penny Revitt from Ipswich who gave an account of how her son Sam, 10, received end-of-life support for Dravet’s Syndrom (DS), a rare form of epilepsy.
He died following his transfer from Addenbrooke's in February.
Following his death, Penny told his story to the CUH.
She said: "In our Palliative care journey, genuine kindness was shown to us as we made the most difficult of choices to stop active treatment and begin end of life care.
"It’s a decision no parent wants to make but a whole range of people and teams pulled together to make it possible for Sam and us to be in a home from home for those final 16 hours of his life."
The name and logo of the service was designed by eight-year-old Erin Sadler, from Colchester, who suffers from conditions that affect her heart and kidneys.
She designed it alongside mum, Helen.
Erin has been in the care of medical professionals since she was a few weeks old.
Both children underwent treatment at the Treehouse hospice in Ipswich.
The service will also have an educational element, and will allow all the partners to share expertise to increase quality of care.
Professor Stephen Barclay, clinical lead of the NHS England East of England and professor at the University of Cambridge said: “The team will not only provide much-needed care and support where and when it is needed across the East of England, but will also be a great opportunity to work collaboratively with other UK centres in research, informing delivery of optimal evidence-based care.”
