A Huddersfield hospice has been praised from the head of a pioneering national caring review.
Baron Phil Willis, of Knaresborough, said that the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in Brackenhall was an example of ‘world class’ home care on a recent visit to the charity.
He made his remarks as part of a pioneering nationwide investigation that he is heading, entitled Shape of Caring review.
Baron Willis was impressed with the type of caring on offer from the Russell House hub, which has adapted a flexible approach to care to allow families to receive the help best suited to them.
This includes offering care around the clock every day of the year at a mixture of locations including patients’ homes, in their communities or at the centre.
Remarking on the charity’s work, he said: “Forget Me Not’s model of children’s palliative care is exactly the one we are looking for in the future, where children are at the centre of care, not the building and facilities.
“Forget Me Not has re-emphasised the need for nurses to be highly competent but above all to be adaptable.
“The belief that you can’t deliver World Class care at home has been blown aside at Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.”
The review will make recommendations for the reform of nursing and care assistant education and training in England over the next 15 years, to fit with the changing needs of patients and their care patterns.
It comes as children’s palliative care services grow due to improvements in birth rates and medical care.
Vicki Finlay Director of Care at the hospice, said: “We have listened to our families about the care they need now and what they will need in the future and they asked for flexibility, a choice of where they can receive their care and when they receive it.
“We are one of the first Children’s Hospices in the UK to use this model of care and so far it has enabled us to get the right people, with the right skill, to the right place and at the right time.”
