In My View
Posted by Robert Walter, MP for North Dorset, at 11:18, Thu 21 February 2008:
IN MY VIEW There are more than 20,000 children and young people in this country requiring specialist care because of either life-threatening diseases, such as cancer, or life-limiting degenerative disorders. Most palliative care services are provided by charities. They receive some of their funding from government, but the rest comes from donations.
Last month I visited Naomi House Children’s Hospice near Winchester, which is managed by the Wessex Children’s Hospice Trust, a charitable organisation. This very special ‘home from home’ offers a wide range of palliative care services to terminally ill children and their families from across the south, including many from Dorset.
On opening its doors in June 1997 after six years of determined fund-raising, Naomi House became one of only a handful of hospices dedicated to the exclusive care of terminally ill children. Since that time its free-of-payment services, which include respite, terminal and bereavement care and support, have helped over 200 children, their parents and siblings. As a purpose built facility, Naomi House was specifically designed to meet the needs of young people with life-limiting illnesses, which cannot often be adequately provided for in centres focused on the care of adults.
Palliative care for children, as for adults, is either carried out at home with the support of community nurses, in hospices or in hospitals. An inquiry last year, commissioned by the Government found that parents were left frustrated and exhausted by the current 'patchy' system.
Families of terminally-ill children had to fight for support and often fell through the gap between social services and the NHS. This week the government announced a small increase in funding, but only to £10 million for this essential service.
Ministers want to see families given access to 24-hour community teams and they have called on councils and the NHS to work together and with the charitable providers to improve and expand services. Parents should be given a choice of where their children were cared for and it called for an expansion of community teams, of nurses and palliative care specialists.
To meet this need Dorset now has Julia’s House in Broadstone providing out-reach and day care children’s services for kids with chronic and terminal illnesses. Both Naomi House and Julia’s House offer an essential service to many Dorset families. There is much to do and we must not fail the families who live with these challenging situations every day of their lives
I am also very concerned that new figures show too many children at harm, with drink fuelling yob behaviour. Official figures which have revealed not only a growing number of under-age drinkers are being admitted to hospital, but also that the laws against under-age drinking are not being properly enforced.
This disturbing news coincides with the report from Crime Concern which has found that “drinking to get drunk is starting younger with serious consequences to health and crime”. Almost four in ten young people now start drinking at the age of 13, and half of their parents are turning a blind eye.
Under-age drinking harms young people and fuels youth crime and anti-social behaviour. There are already laws and sanctions in place. The failure to enforce the law sends totally the wrong message about under-age drinking and is adding to public concern about yob behaviour and crime. We also need greater social responsibility, and an end to turning a blind eye to their children’s drinking.
Commenting on this message is now disabled.