Home » CHAS Services » FAQs

FAQs

How much does CHAS get from the Government/statutory sources?

Rachel House - For the five years from 1993 CHAS received £250,000 per year direct from the Scottish Office, initially for the set-up phase and then towards the direct operating costs. In April 1998 the funding arrangements changed when the Scottish Office proposed that the Health Boards and Local Authorities take over responsibility for supporting CHAS, with a contribution level of 25% between them.

All 15 Health Boards have contributed since then each year, but did not until last year match the cost of the service development at Rachel House. In 2005/06 they contributed £208,000, which was 8.9% of the budgeted operating costs compared to the expectation of 12.5%. Their contribution for 2006/07 increased to £290,000 reaching the 12.5% target.

The Local Authorities missed two years altogether, only starting to support CHAS in 2000/01. Not all the authorities have been contributing and in 2006/07 the total eventually contributed by 26 out of the 32 was £230,000, which was 9.9% compared to the 12.5% target.

The combined total of funding contributions for 2006/07 was therefore 22.4% of Rachel House's budgeted running costs, which are calculated not including any allocation of fundraising or central support costs.

It should be noted that these sources have had to be re-negotiated each year, as the Scottish Executive have not been persuaded that we should be funded centrally.

Robin House - The Scottish Executive paid £500,000 to CHAS in April 2003 towards the capital costs and have given £250,000 per annum to support running costs in the first two years of operations ending 31 March 2007. From that date the Health Boards and Local Authorities are expected to apply the same 12.5% target each year as applies to Rachel House but agreement has not yet been reached. A draft three year service level agreement is being considered by the Health Boards which will then be submitted to the Local Authorities.

Administrative Costs - In periods of three years at a time the Scottish Executive has contributed a core grant of £25,000 per annum since 1996. This is now awarded from the Children, Young People and Families Unified Voluntary Sector Fund and we have been granted £26,906 for each of the three years to 31 March 2010.

Statutory Funding: Contribution to CHAS Total Costs - The 25% target relates to the direct costs of running the two hospices. It does not include any of the central support costs or fundraising costs. If we were to achieve the 25% target for both hospices in 2007/08 then the total contribution would be £1.2m, which would represent 16.6% of our total budgeted costs of £7.2m. The balance therefore required from CHAS income sources would be 83.4% and indeed this is likely to be higher given the uncertainty over statutory funding being doubled this year.

How much does CHAS get from the National Lottery?

CHAS does not received any funds from the National Lottery.

How are children referred?

Anyone can refer a child/family to any of the CHAS services with their knowledge and consent. The only criteria are that the child/young person must have a qualifying condition (ie not expected to survive into adulthood) and must ordinarily be under 16 at the time of referral. The main sources are: self referral by families with affected children, health services, social work, specialist family support groups.

What is the upper age limit and how strict is its implementation?

Children must ordinarily be under 16 at the time of first referral. The services exist to support families with a child or children who are not expected to survive into adulthood. However, there is no strict cut-off point. For example, if a child with a progressive terminal condition who, having been referred at age 14, survived beyond their 18th birthday, then Rachel House and Robin House will continue to support that young person and their family until death occurs, if this is appropriate for the young person concerned.

What conditions do the children have?

Contrary to popular belief, there are very few children with cancer at Rachel House and Robin House. Fortunately most childhood cancers are treatable and curable. The small number referred with cancer to date have all suffered from inoperable tumours or widespread disease.

The vast majority of the children have progressive, incurable, terminal conditions where their health and abilities deteriorate gradually over time - for example Duchenne muscular dystrophy, metabolic diseases and a whole host of genetic conditions - some of which are extremely rare.

Some children have acute conditions where treatment has been unsuccessful, for example kidney failure, heart disease.

How long do children stay?

Depending on the needs of the family at the time. The average length of a stay last year was four nights.

Rachel House and Robin House aim to offer each family around 21 days respite care in a year, to be used flexibly as the family requires. Emergency admissions and admissions for terminal care can be accepted at any time, according to availability.

What background do the staff have?

The staff team provides a rich mix of professional and practical experience: qualified nurses, the majority of whom are sick children's nurses; physiotherapists; nursery nurses; play specialists; Chaplains; social workers; occupational therapists; youth workers and care assistants. The Care Team is backed up by a support service comprising administrator, secretary, cooks, housekeeping staff and maintenance engineer. Volunteers contribute to all areas of work at Rachel House and Robin House.

What medical cover is available?

24-hour medical cover is provided by a contracted local GP practice and they work closely with the medical team responsible for the child's care in his/her home area.