Did you know that Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care supports children with life-threatening or life-limiting illnesses and their families, as well as adults, with progressive life-limiting illnesses?

To mark Children’s Hospice Week, Sarah, a Rennie Grove Peace children’s nurse, shares more about her work with the charity’s children and young people’s service.

She starts by saying: "I'm proud to do the work that I do. I find it quite special and rewarding to look after children and young people."

Sarah’s nursing role is just one of the positions in the team – she is joined by a specialist play team and a children’s counsellor so the charity can offer a holistic service to the children and families it cares for.

Of the nursing part of the service, Sarah explains: "With the children on my caseload I have contact with them at least once a month, normally in the form of a face-to-face visit at home.

"And then in times of crisis, I can visit them at home to do symptom management reviews which help to get any symptoms under control.

"I also provide some nursing respite as well as medical, practical and emotional support for the whole family.

"I find the nursing respite really important because a lot of our children are so complex they need specialist care.

"The nursing respite visits are sometimes the only time the parents get to just do simple things that others take for granted, like having a shower or cooking dinner.

"As well as providing clinical support, I can help families by liaising with other services to access things like equipment or speak to other healthcare professionals on their behalf.

"When a child has a progressive life-limiting illness it impacts every area of both their own, and their family’s, lives.

"We work with partner organisations – such as other children’s hospices and the community nursing team – to ensure we’re meeting all of our patients and families’ needs efficiently, without duplicating services.

"At Rennie Grove Peace we also offer a range of supportive care services – such as counselling and complementary therapies – that I can refer families to when relevant."

When asked what she most enjoys about the role, Sarah replies: "It is a real privilege to provide care to children and their families in their own homes.

"Our collaborative and personalised approach to care helps us to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions for our children and their families, giving them more time to create meaningful memories together at home."

To find out more about the Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care children and young people’s service, visit renniegrovepeace.org