The Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, Hampton, Middlesex

The Shooting Star Children’s Hospice is one of the two charities that the PSMG has chosen to support in 2006.The PSMG donation will cover the cost of a new syringe driver. We asked Brian Gallagher, Trusts Co-ordinator, to tell us about their work and how the PSMG donation will make a difference.

“The Shooting Star Children’s Hospice is a charity raising funds to maintain and run a much-needed service. Like shooting stars, each life-limited child is unique and shines bright – but like a shooting star, they are gone far too soon. When a family is told their child has a life-limiting condition and will not reach adulthood, their lives are never the same again. This is when the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice makes such a difference, enhancing the quality of life when every precious moment counts.

Shooting Star House is a very special place: a home from home for families who find themselves in truly unimaginable circumstances. Our team provides specialist care and support – sharing the smiles on the good days, being there every step of the way through the more difficult times. The care is family-centred, focusing on the individual needs of the child, their parents and their siblings. Through the provision of Respite, Palliative and specialist End of Life care, whether in the hospice or in the family’s own home, we strive to ensure that quality of life is enhanced for the whole family throughout the course of a child’s illness.

Shooting Star House provides care and support to children and young people (from birth to 18), free of charge, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The gift of a 50ml Syringe Driver from PSMG is so important in helping us to offer the best possible treatment by enabling us to administer appropriate levels of analgesia over a prolonged period.

Working in close partnership with families, we aim to maximise the physical, emotional, educational and social potential of every child. We assess, plan and deliver a bespoke holistic programme of care. We work in collaboration with external health professionals, including specialist hospital teams and community children’s nurses.

With no statutory government funding, we rely entirely on voluntary donations to fund the £2.5 million needed each and every year to sustain our service. There is currently only one bed available per six children living with a life-limited condition providing specialist hospice care in the whole of the UK. Before the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice opened, there were none in this area. Our care catchment area covers the land framed within the city of London, northwards to Barnet, westwards to Camberley, across to Dorking in the south. In short, our area of West London and North-East Surrey contains a geographic population of 4.6 million, which includes around 1500 families who have children with a life-limiting illness.”

Brian Gallagher is Trusts Co-ordinator at the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice. He can be contacted on 020 8481 8199 or brian.gallagher@shootingstar.org.uk , or for more information visit www.shootingstar.org.uk

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