Minister announces £9million to improve community support for children with complex needs

Children and young people with complex physical healthcare needs are to be supported to live within their family setting due to funding announced by the Health Minister.

The £9million investment, over the next three years, will improve the current services by providing care packages appropriate to the needs of the individual child and family, including nursing support, equipment, training and respite care.

Children with complex physical healthcare needs include those with cerebral palsy, brain injury and intractable epilepsy, where special provision has to made to meet the needs of both the child and their carers.

Making the announcement the Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey said: “Children and young people with complex healthcare needs are a small but growing population in Northern Ireland. They place many demands on their families, including the need to make many trips to hospital for vital care. Knowing that these children do better in their own environment, it is recognised that where possible, they should be cared for in their own homes.

“This investment will therefore provide a flexible, community children’s nursing service, where individual care packages will be developed to meet the specific needs of each child and their family. Recognising that families themselves require support in order to maintain a reasonable quality of home life, this investment will also provide families with community support services and respite care facilities.”

The £9million investment follows a review by the Chief Nursing Officer, Martin Bradley, into the nursing services available for children and young people with complex needs. This investment is in addition to £200,000 allocated to the Children’s Hospice annually for outreach services for those with complex physical healthcare needs.

In conclusion, the Minister said: “This investment is further evidence of my commitment to improving services in this very complex area. Treating people with safety and dignity in their own homes, as long as it is possible to do so, is an important element of our modernised health and social care system “

The Minister also recently announced specific funding of £220,000 annually to improve hospital services for children with intractable epilepsy.

Notes to Editors:

1. In November 2006 the Chief Nursing Officer (DHSSPS) commissioned the University of Ulster to carry out a review on how nursing services could be facilitated to support and respond to children with complex physical healthcare needs. The Report (Complex Needs: The Nursing Response to Children and Young People with Complex Physical Healthcare Needs) was published on 27 June 2007.

2. The Report identified six areas for development:

• Children are best cared for at home and within families;
• The ordinary needs of children and families have to be met as well as their special needs;
• Parents know the child better than anyone else and need to be treated respectfully by professionals as equal partners given the expertise they have in the care of their child;
• Professional supports must be co-ordinated and responsive to the needs of individual children and families;
• Risks to the child’s life need to be managed in ways that provide safety and a good quality of life to the child and family;
• Partnership working across disciplines and agencies is essential.

3. The publication of the report was supported with a funding announcement by the Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey. There was a one off allocation of £150,000 for the purchase of specialist equipment and a annual sum of £200,000 to the NI Children’s Hospice for outreach nursing services.

4. A Care Pathway model and an assessment instrument to more accurately determine the needs of the child and their family have now been developed for health professionals.

5. The Minister’s recent announcement of investment in intractable epilepsy services can be viewed online

6. Media enquiries to the DHSSPS Press Office on 028 90520575. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Office via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.