About this item

Issue date:
25 September 2012
Status:
Current
Document date:
25 September 2012
Type:
Guidance
Topic:
Lifestages
Copyright status:

Copyright Held by Non-Crown Party

Summary

The Guidance for Integrated Paediatric Palliative Care Services in New Zealand is a guide to improve the integration of palliative care service delivery to children and young people in New Zealand.

 

A summary document has the key recommendations of the Guidance that funders and planners can use as a quick reference guide.


The Guidance was commissioned by the Ministry of Health.

 

It was developed in response to the national review of paediatric sub-specialty programmes (Ministry of Health 2010), which found that paediatric palliative care services in New Zealand, other than in Auckland, are not fully coordinated or sufficiently specialised, and generally provide no access to specialist care.

 

The review found that many families of children with palliative care needs rely on local primary health care, community services and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to provide palliative care.

The Guidance examines existing paediatric palliative care services, both in New Zealand and internationally, and uses the results in the proposed framework.



The proposed framework provides structure for developing a coherent, integrated and coordinated system of paediatric palliative care service delivery.  The proposed framework includes:

 

  • extending the role of the Starship Paediatric Palliative Care Team to include national support services; specifically facilitating 24/7 support to area nurse coordinators
  • confirmation of area nurse coordinators and lead paediatricians
  • developing and implementing an education and training process for nurse coordinators and lead paediatricians
  • establishing a National Paediatric Palliative Care Network.