Collaboration Between Hospices and Neonatal Units - Offering Choices

Abstract

Throughout the course of this book, it has been highlighted that palliative care has only recently been applied to the perinatal and neonatal population (TFSL, A guide to children’s palliative care: supporting babies, children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions and their families, Together for Short Lives, Bristol, 2018). In the developed world, more than 90% of neonatal deaths occur in hospital. Hospice care for infants has not yet been widely or consistently adopted. The reasons for this are not fully understood, but it may be caused by misconceptions about what it is, what it offers, and myths about hospice care. In this chapter, we examine the support available outside the neonatal unit within children’s hospices and how collaboration between hospices and neonatal units (NNUs) can assist in offering parental choice. This chapter will assist the reader to have a greater understanding of what hospice care can offer babies and their families in the strive for quality palliative care for each individual baby and family.