In the afternoon today, I was able to visit Richard House. It is similar to Shooting Star, but does receive some funding from health and social services departments for services that it provides. It seems that these funding arrangements are negotiated separately by each hospice with their local health authorities.
Richard House provides respite care and also has an extensive program for young adults (aged 14-24 yrs). Although the Hospice doesn't provide overnight care to children older than 18 yrs, they have developed day programming for the young adults group. They have been able to get the patients over 18 yrs into the local adult hospice for some respite care. This is the first time I have heard of an adult hospice offering this type of service.
I attended the meeting where new referrals are discussed. The hospice reviews a child's condition several times a year to ensure that they still fulfill criteria. They are using the criteria that the child must have a life threatening or life limiting condition and be likely to die before reaching adulthood.
The hospice is located in south east London. I took the Docklands Light Rail network to get there.
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Playroom
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| Dining Room |
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| Garden and playground area. |
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| Tranquility Suite. |
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| Family meeting room |
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| Central area where patient rooms face nursing station |
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