“Life-threatening conditions for which curative treatment may be feasible but can fail. Where access to palliative care services may be necessary when treatment fails or during an acute crisis, irrespective of the duration of that threat to life. On reaching long term remission or following successful curative treatment there is no longer a need for palliative care services. Example cancer, irreversible organ failures of heart, liver, kidney”
Criteria for Referral
Children up to 6 years of age
Our criteria for referral is guided by the internationally recognised Association for Children’s Palliative Care (ACT) and The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) categories.
Category 1
We offer our service to children at End of Life in this category within our age criteria.
Category 2
“Conditions when premature death is inevitable, where there may be long periods of intensive treatment aimed at prolonging life and allowing participation in normal activities. Examples: cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy”
Generally, we do not provide a service to children/families within this category.
Category 3
“Progressive conditions without curative treatment options, where treatment is exclusively palliative and may commonly extend over many years. Examples: Batten disease, mucopolysaccharidoses”
We commonly offer our support to children within this category.We offer our service to children at End of Life in this category within our age criteria.
Category 4
“Irreversible but non-progressive conditions causing severe disability leading to susceptibility to health complications and likelihood of premature death.
Examples: severe cerebral palsy, multiple disabilities following a brain insult or complex health care needs and a high risk of an unpredictable life-threatening event or episode”
We provide a service to children within this category who have a significant cognitive impairment.
Additional criteria
We offer our service to children with Down syndrome who have two additional nursing needs, i.e. enteral feeding, oxygen therapy, non invasive ventilation, seizure management, colostomy care and/or bowel washouts and children with Down syndrome who come under Category 4.
Exclusion criteria
Please note, we do not provide a service to children with a primary diagnosis of Autism (regardless of their cognitive delay) or children with complex medical needs without a severe to profound cognitive delay (This includes children with tracheostomies, muscular atrophies and muscular dystrophies).
Any Questions?
Phone: +353 45 894 538 or Email: [email protected]
