Naomi House Children's Hospice

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• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

The service understood the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care is joined-up, flexible and supports choice and continuity.

This service scored 100 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Person-centred Care during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

Naomi House and Jacksplace is a charitable organisation with limited funding from NHS England via The Children’s Hospice Grant. The hospice seeks funding for end-of-life care from the ICB on a case-by-case basis. Children were reviewed biannually for eligibility to receive services. The discharge process of an individual involved the lead nurse contacting the family by phone to inform them of the decision to discharge them of services. The patient and family could continue to access services for 6 months from the time of the decision to discharge. The hospice signposted families to other services, when possible, via the family support team. Families were provided with an opportunity to appeal the decision. The hospice was part of the Wessex Children and Young Adults’ Palliative Care Network which was a collaboration set up between Naomi House & Jacksplace, Hampshire and Isle of Wight HIOW Integrated Care Board ICB and University Hospitals Southampton. The aim of the network was to develop an integrated and strategic approach to the expansion of services, expertise, education, training, and support across the area. The priority was to ensure children and young adults with life limiting conditions received the care they needed, by the right person, in the right place, at the right time and that care was provided by confident, competent, compassionate professionals in a way that was both sustainable and equitable across the Wessex region. The network produced six monthly review reports and were currently working within HIOW with providers and commissioners to develop and sustain a fully funded 24/7 palliative care wherever a child or young adult was at home, hospice or hospital.

Acceptance to the service was based on information from the child or young person’s clinicians and assessment against an eligibility assessment tool. The hospice team signposted families whose child didn't fit the eligibility criteria to alternative services or support and encouraged re-referral should the child’s condition deteriorated. Staff told us that the family support team ran children’s peer support groups, sibling support and all staff are involved in memory making activities such as casting, footprints, and locks of hair. The Family Support Team also offered ongoing support to families and had an adult counsellor and children’s play therapist. The play and activities team organised outings for children and young people whilst in respite and offered play visits within community setting and spent time with resident children and young people, setting up activities at both Naomi House and Jacksplace 7 days a week. In addition, they offered 2-hour visits in the child’s home. The team were currently seeking to grow volunteer support for these to allow them to do even more. The Play team also offered short notice community support in times of crisis, a rapid response service. They attended the internal MDT to identify children in need, for example children currently in hospital or at home for end-of-life care. Staff we spoke with told us all care team operated a full service over the weekend including the play and activities team. Medical cover was provided across a 7 day rota and they would visit if needed. Consultant advice was available over the phone. Staff told us if a child or young person had not used the service before, parents stayed with them over night for 2 nights to help familiarise staff with needs and routines.

Feedback received from parents and families were positive and included comments like 'Receiving support from the Family Support Team and knowing that they’re at the end of the phone if they needed help was amazing.' Parents and families commented that they had benefited from the parents’ groups and remembering days and found it good to be with people who understood what they were going through. Parents and families also commented on receiving information on post bereavement support and counselling and found these to be very supportive and helped them process the grief. Feedback received for Group Family support meetings were also positive and families commented that these meetings were very helpful in dealing with their bereavement. Another relative commented that they had found the support invaluable and didn’t know how they would have coped without it. They also commented that the team were always at the end of a phone and acted quickly to meet the needs of families.

We did not look at Providing Information during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Listening to and involving people during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Equity in access during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Equity in experiences and outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Planning for the future during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.