Refer a patient to the Paediatric Palliative Care department

There is no hospital-based palliative care outpatient clinic, although children may be seen when attending outpatient clinics for another service.

As a tertiary care hospital, all children who attend GOSH must be referred via local hospital consultants, community paediatricians, community children’s nurses, local hospices or GPs.

We are also happy to accept referrals directly from children or parents who feel they may benefit from the service.

However, we will need to seek agreement and referral from their local or GOSH paediatrician before accepting the referral.

To make a referral to the Paediatric Palliative Care team please complete the form and send via email to louisdundas.centre@nhs.net

Alternatively, post the form to the following address:

The Louis Dundas Centre
Oncology Outreach and Palliative Care Team
Level 2, Barclay House
Great Ormond Street
London
WC1N 3BH

We generally only accept referrals of children and families living within Greater London. For those outside London we accept referrals for patients currently receiving care at GOSH and can be seen when attending GOSH appointments.

However, as there are very few specialist paediatric palliative care services throughout the UK, we do occasionally receive referrals from outside Greater London.

In this instance, we will attempt to sign post the referrer to the most appropriate local service, although in very exceptional circumstances we may be able to provide a limited service and support to the local team.

There are no palliative care inpatient beds, so we cannot accept inter hospital transfers.

When referring a child to the Palliative Care team, please confirm that the family has agreed to the referral.

The Palliative Care team can be contacted from Monday to Friday, 8am-6pm on 020 7829 8678.

For urgent out-of-hours calls please contact the GOSH switchboard on 020 7405 9200 and ask to call the team.

The Palliative Care team can be contacted from Monday to Friday, 8am-6pm on 020 7829 8678.

Outside these hours, please leave a message on the answer phone and your call will be returned the next working day.

For urgent out-of-hours calls please contact the GOSH switchboard on 020 7405 9200 and ask to call the team.

Palliative care aims to maintain and, as far as possible, optimise the quality of life of children and their families living with life-threatening and life-shortening illness.

The Paediatric Palliative Care team at Great Ormond Street Hospital looks after children and families at different points during their illness, depending on need.

This may be at the diagnosis of a serious illness, providing support through treatment, at any point when extra support may be needed, or when there is recognition that death is a likely outcome.

End of life care does not relate to a specific time frame. For some children it may be days, for others it may be many years. The Palliative Care team is able to support children and families to plan for the future.

This includes:

• preparation for what to expect
• support for managing symptoms
• support to achieve personal and family goals
• planning for times of crises
• providing a choice over where care is delivered, including home, hospice or hospital

Our team consists of a range of different professionals available to support families. This includes medical, nursing, psychological and social support.

Through advanced planning and working with local services, we aim to ensure children and families have access to appropriate advice and support 24 hours a day.

The Palliative Care team offers specialist palliative care, symptom management, assessment and management on an outpatient basis.

Although there is no dedicated outpatient clinic, children can be seen if attending an appointment with another specialty.

Continuity of care is very important, especially if children are being cared for by a number of different professionals from different services. We do our best to ensure that each family has a key contact in the team who is able to answer queries, from families and other professionals, and help co-ordinate care.

We are aware that for many families, GOSH is a long way from home, so we provide an outreach service so that children can be seen at home rather than coming back to the hospital.

We work closely with other teams in the child’s own community, such as Community Children’s Nurses, GPs, local hospital services, hospices and schools.

We also provide a 24-hour telephone support service that can be accessed by families and professionals.

To access this service please call 020 7829 8678.

If you are calling outside of office hours (6pm-8am) please call the main switchboard on 020 7405 9200 and ask to call the team.

All general feedback and suggestions can be directed to:

The Louis Dundas Centre
Oncology Outreach and Palliative Care Team
Level 2, Barclay House
Great Ormond Street
London
WC1N 3BH

Direct line: 020 7829 8678

Carla Hobart
General Manager
020 7405 9200 ext 1008
Carla.Hobart@gosh.nhs.uk