Children's Palliative Care

Life Force Team

What our service does

We are a multi-disciplinary team that support children with life limiting/life threatening conditions living in Camden, Haringey and Islington.

The team consists of:

• 1 x Community Matron – who manages the team, has a caseload of her own and works strategically to raise the profile of paediatric palliative care.

Working alongside the Community Matron are:

• 1.5 x WTE specialist nurses – providing training and support to the respite nursery nurses, providing support to the parents and the child and providing end of life care in the home.  We also provide bereavement support to the parents and debriefs to staff.
• 3 x respite nursery nurses – who provide sessions of respite in the home allowing parents to leave the home
• 1 x play specialist/youth worker – who works with the child to explore how they feel, she also provides a bereavement programme for the bereaved siblings.
• Psychology – providing pre and post bereavement support to parents, and clinical supervision to colleagues.

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Where the service is located and the areas it covers

We are based in Northern Health Centre and work in Camden, Haringey and Islington.

The address of the centre is:

Northern Health centre
580 Holloway Road
London N7 6LB

Telephone: 020 3316 1950

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Who our service provides for

We look after children from 0 to 18 years old (and up to 19 if they have special needs) who have a life limiting or life threatening condition.

They need to have a nursing need to receive respite from our team.

Further information is available on the following websites:

• Find a hospice
• Children’s Community Nursing Team

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How a child or young person can start using the service

Families can make a direct referral.  We have no waiting list.  We are funded by the Clinical Commissioning Group so there is no additional charge to families for our service. 

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How decisions are made about eligibility for our service

Referrals are discussed as a team.  An assessment of needs is made and we communicate directly with the families as to whether they are eligible or not eligible for the service.

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How we communicate with service users and how they are involved in decision making/planning

We review the children who are on our caseload long-term, every three months.  We review the other children on a regular basis, at least monthly.

We undertake a patient survey every six months.  We are currently using the National Patient Toolkit for this.

We have a leaflet for parents/carers and one for professionals.

We use interpreters for non-English speaking families.

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How accessible our service is

We provide our service in the home of the service user.

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What training the staff supporting children and young people with SEND have or will they be getting?

All our staff have had training in Makaton (simple sign language).

The respite nursery nurses  have had this training through their nursery nurse course as would the play specialist.

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Who a service user should contact if they want to raise a concern or complain about something

A service user who wishes to raise a concern or complain about something can contact:

Bernadette O’Gorman, the manager of the team
Telephone: 020 3316 1950
Email: bernadette.o'gorman@islingtonpct.nhs.uk

or

Joy Hayes, Matron for Children’s Services
Telephone: 020 3316 1950
Email: joy.hayes@nhs.net

or the PALS service at Whittington Hospital.

We would advocate speaking directly to the team manager first to see if any issue can be resolved locally.

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Who a parent carer/young person can contact for further information

Bernadette O’Gorman  - Community Matron  
Telephone: 020 3316 1950
Email: Bernadette.o'gorman@islingtonpct.nhs.uk

or any member of the Life Force team.

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