Professionals information

Children's Hospice South West provides hospice care for children and families in the South West, providing a service from both Charlton Farm in North Somerset, and Little Bridge House in North Devon.

Who do we care for?

We provide care for children and their families, who have been diagnosed with a life-limiting or life-threatening illness which means that it is unlikely that the affected child will survive into adulthood. Referrals can be made from the point of diagnosis of such an illness or condition, and the support provided will be tailored to the needs of the individual child and family and reviewed over time. Referrals may also be made for children who do not have a clear diagnosis, but whose medical history suggests that their life expectancy is likely to be restricted. Please do not feel that a child must be nearing the end of life before referral, but do recognise that the family must be able to accept that their child's life expectancy will be limited in order to feel comfortable in a hospice environment.

We care for children and families from all over the South West. Little Bridge House in North Devon has been established since 1995 and has 8 beds for children, 7 for planned respite care and 1 for emergencies. Charlton Farm opened its doors to families in April 2007 to provide an additional 4 respite beds and one emergency bed, and will increase to a total provision of 8 beds in 2008.

Little Bridge House is licensed to provide care for children and young adults up to the age of 23, and Charlton Farm to the age of 21, but we would not normally accept referrals of children over the age of 16 unless there was a very high chance that the young person would not survive for more than a few years. From the age of 18, we will work jointly with relevant agencies to secure efficient transition of care into adult services.

Our Care Team

We have a care team which includes a range of professionals from backgrounds in nursing, social work, physiotherapy, chaplaincy, teaching, and youth work, in addition to other supporting staff. We also have the luxury of high staffing ratios, and aim to provide a personal and professional service to all our families. Medical support is provided by a team of GPs and paediatricians.

We aim to provide a "home from home", with a relaxed and informal atmosphere, to replicate the care that children receive from their families at home. As hospices, Little Bridge House and Charlton Farm are able to care for children with complex nursing needs, and to be flexible in the amount and type of support that is offered to families, according to their wishes. However, we do not provide the level of medical intervention and resuscitation usually available in an acute hospital setting.

How can I refer a child and family for support?

We welcome referrals from any professionals involved with a child with a life-limiting condition, and directly from the families themselves. We will then contact the family to offer information about our service, and obtain their permission to contact their professional support team (GP, consultants, key workers etc) to gather up-to-date information about their child's current needs and likely future prognosis. Useful initial information that we require includes the child's name and address and date of birth, diagnosis or condition (if known), and a contact telephone number for the family.

When all the information is available are reviewed, a decision will be made about the appropriateness of hospice care for an individual child and family, and family and involved professionals will be informed of this without delay. A typical timeframe for this referral process is approximately 6 weeks.

If an urgent or emergency referral is necessary (such as for symptom control or end-of-life care) please contact the head of care and/or the medical director at the relevant hospice to discuss how we might work together to best meet the needs of the child and family. Please note that as we do not have residential medical cover around the clock, it may not be possible to accept emergency admissions at night or during weekends without prior arrangement.

For more information on referrals please contact Little Bridge House or Charlton Farm as follows:

How to apply to work on care side bank staff

Please send in a letter of application to the relevant hospice along with your CV. You will be required to undertake the full recruitment process.

How to apply for a care job at LBH or CF

Training & Development

In September 2005, three qualified children's nurses, who work on the Care Team, commenced in the position of Education Coordinator (Ed. Co), working in a three way job share, with each working two days per week in the role of Education Coordinator and the remaining hours of their working week as a member of the Care Team.

The main responsibility of the Ed. Co's is the co-ordination of all the training needs of the care team. The range of opportunities offered by the Ed. Co's are from clinical supervision of staff alongside children to formal days of training.

They organise study days both for the care team as well as external professionals. With the constant need of the service to be up to a full compliment of staff, the Ed.Co's organise the orientation packages for new members of staff.

They also play an active part in policy & procedure meetings; clinical governance; quality assurance; and health & safety.