The care that our child receives at Robin House is second to none. |
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| FAQs |
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. |
Contact Us
- CHAS Head Office:
- Canal Court,
- 42 Craiglockhart Avenue,
- Edinburgh
- EH14 1LT
- T: 0131 444 1900
- F: 0131 444 4001
- E: info@chas.org.uk
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