What CHIPS can offer

Oxfordshire Children and Young People's Integrated Palliative Care Service offers the following:

• Support 365 days a year for any child with a life-limiting illness. This will be provided by the CCNT
• The Lead Nurse will provide a single point of contact for information about Palliative Care Services in Oxfordshire
• The Lead Nurse will liaise with existing providers of palliative care to promote a seamless service
• 24-hour medical support and backup to the children's community nurses palliative care team and other Oxfordshire healthcare professionals
• 24-hour specialist medical palliative-care assessment and treatment centre at Helen House
• Open admission policy available to community children's nurses wishing to admit children with palliative care emergencies to Helen House
• Support and advice to professionals working in secondary and tertiary care settings regarding palliative care for children
• A "Little Room" at Helen House (a refrigerated bedroom in which a child can lie in peace after their death until the time of his or her funeral)
• The Helen House bereavement service to all bereaved families in Oxfordshire

Who can access the service?

Any child whose GP is in Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust and who has a "life-limiting illness" can use the service. Life-limiting conditions are those for which there is no reasonable hope of cure and from which children will die. Many of those conditions cause progressive deterioration.

In line with the Children Act 1989 we define children as young people aged up to 18 years, but we do not exclude those whose diagnosis is made in childhood and live unexpectedly beyond this age.