2006
Pain and Palliative Care Unit – Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia.
"The Pain and Palliative Care Service at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia (CHW) operates an integrated system of Paediatric Palliative Care, providing care at home, in hospital, and in the Children's In-patient Hospice Unit
(Bear Cottage; see www.bearcottage.chw.edu.au).
This system is unique and has the ability to offer a seamless system of paediatric palliative care in different geogrpahical locations depending on need. By virtue of its expertise, CHW has the highest level of Paediatric Palliative Care capability (Level 3), as defined by Palliative Care Australia. During 2001-2006 approximately 250 children cared for in this system have died, with the majority dying at home or in the Children's in-patient hospice unit (Bear Cottage). Children with cancer accounted for more than half of the children dying.
The three streams of Palliative Care [home, hospice (Bear Cottage), hospital] have been in development at the Children's Hospital at Westmead (CHW) during the last decade. In 1998 CHW appointed Dr. John Collins, a paediatrician with expertise and qualifications in pain management and palliative care for children. Since that appointment, in-patient and domiciliary palliative care programs have been in development at CHW and a pre-existing acute pain service evolved into becoming the Pain and Palliative Care Service. The development has included the appointment of additional nursing and allied health practitioners and the evolution of a paediatric bereavement program. The broader service is involved in the management of acute and procedural pain and chronic pain, in addition to palliative care.
In tandem with this initiative, in the early 1990s, Drs. Michael Stevens and John Yu at CHW set about establishing the first Children's Hospice (Bear Cottage) in the state of New South Wales (NSW). The Children's Hospice (Bear Cottage) was opened for patient care in May, 2001. This initiative was taken since there existed little support in the community for children with slowly progressive life-limiting illnesses. Bear Cottage is the only children's hospice in NSW and only one of two Australia wide. Bear Cottage is the only Children's Hospice in the world owned and operated by a Children's Hospital. By virtue of its association with CHW and its level of paediatric palliative care capability, the hospice is well positioned to have a leadership role in paediatric in-patient hospice as a component of palliative care for
children. The salary and operational cost of running the Children's Hospice (Bear Cottage) is funded mostly by private donation.
The Pain and Palliative Care Service at CHW views itself, and so has been accessed, as a state, national, and international resource for Paediatric Palliative Care. The service trains local and overseas medical Fellows in paediatric pain management and palliative care in positions accredited with the Australian College of Physicians and College of Anaesthetists. The service frequently hosts visitors from diverse professional backgrounds."
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Team members (from left to right): Justine Battersby (Clinical Nurse Specialist, Bear Cottage), Anthony Herbert MD (Pain Fellow), Cay Camden (Senior Social Worker and Bereavement Coordinator), Sharon Ryan MD (Palliative Care Fellow), John Collins MD (Head, Pain and Palliative Care Service), Leonie Andrews [in front ](RN, Palliative Care), Annette Pelizois Galati (Senior Social Worker).* ABSENT: Judith Frost (Clinical Nurse Consultant, Palliative Care, currently in the UK as a recipient of the Churchill Fellowship*, Dr. Jonathan De Lima, Deputy Head, Pain and Palliative Care Service, CHW.
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