Taking control to help 400 children be empowered

POORLY children and their families are being empowered to take control of their illness with the support of a pioneering care team working across Rotherham.

POORLY children and their families are being empowered to take control of their illness with the support of a pioneering care team working across Rotherham.

The Complex Care Team, run by Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, provides services to nearly 400 of the borough’s most vulnerable children and young people.

Working in partnership with local hospitals, Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, social care workers, and special schools, the dedicated team provides a range of specialist nurse-led services in the community helping with long-term conditions and palliative care.

It aims to provide an alternative to hospital care by responding quickly to patients’ needs – offering hospital and hospice services at home, helping with symptom control and assisting with organising respite care.

Families who are often traumatised and distressed by their child’s condition are also offered support to feel confident and competent in being assisted to look after their child at home.

The idea is to achieve a lifestyle that is as near to ‘normal’ as possible at the same time as empowering children and families to take control.

The team is particularly unique in South Yorkshire for the skilled care it provides to ventilator-dependent children.

It is widely acknowledged that prolonged periods within Paediatric Intensive Care Units are detrimental to a child’s emotional, social and psychological development.