An Assessment to Identify the Future Research Priorities for the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland: Final Report

Abstract

First paragraph: The Children's Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS) was established in 1992 and is recognised as a charity committed to specialist caring, support and respite for children and young people with palliative care needs and their families. CHAS' primary objective is to offer hospice services, free of charge to every child and family who needs and wants them (CHAS, 2005). In Scotland there are an estimated 1,200 children with a lifelimiting/ life-threatening condition and over half will require active palliative care (CHAS, 2005). Collectively, Rachel House in Kinross, and the more recently opened, Robin House in Balloch have the capacity to provide 300 children and their families with 17 hospice nights per year. In addition CHAS also offer a home care service in the Central Belt area, a 24 hour telephone support and advice service, and a small Home Care Service called Rachel House at Home (RHaH) in the north of Scotland to offer support to families in more remote areas. Recent expansions of the service, such as the opening of Robin House, an audit which identified strengths of the service and pockets of unmet need (CHAS, 2005) and recent policy initiatives afford an opportunity to consider the future research priorities for CHAS.