Aim
Julia's House aims to maximise and enrich the quality of life of children and young people with life-limiting or life threatening conditions and their families, by providing support from diagnosis to death and beyond for the family, care in our hospice building or in the family home and multi – disciplinary end of life care.
Julia's House operates an Open Referral System whereby any young person or individual known to the young person/child is welcome to make a referral. Please note however, we require the Parent/Guardian signature and a Doctor's signature on the referral form.
Acceptance Criteria
The acceptance criteria for the hospice service is based on the four broad categories of life-limiting conditions described by the Association for Children with Life-threatening or Terminal conditions and their families (ACT) see below. All referrals must fit in to one of these categories.
In addition to these the following criteria apply to Julia’s House
· Families must reside within Dorset
· Young people to be under 18 years of age with a fragile life expectancy,16 -18 yr olds will be assessed sensitively according to the needs and life expectancy of the young person
· The parents of the young person and where appropriate the young person must give their consent for the referral.
· The relevant section on the referral form must be completed, clearly identifying how the young person’s medical condition fits the criteria and signed by a medical practitioner.
· If the young person has one of the following conditions please refer to the additional criteria attached.
Ø Acquired neuro-disability
Ø Oncology
Ø Retts Syndrome
ACT categories of life-limiting conditions
Group1
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 eg cancer (usually solid tumours), irreversible organ failures of heart, liver, kidneys.
Group 2
Conditions where premature death is inevitable, where there may be long periods of intensive treatment aimed at prolonging life and allowing participation in other activities (eg cystic fibrosis)
Group 3
Progressive conditions without curative treatment options, where treatment is exclusively palliative and may commonly extend over many years (eg Batten disease, mucopolysaccharidoses, muscular dystrophy.
Group 4
Irreversible but non-progressive conditions causing severe disability leading to susceptibility to health complications and likelihood of premature death (eg severe cerebral palsy, multiple disabilities such as brain or spinal cord insult).
