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York collaborates with children’s hospice for major new venture

York collaborates with children’s hospice for major new venture

Posted on 9 January 2017

The University of York and Martin House Children’s Hospice is to launch a revolutionary new multi-disciplinary centre committed to leading research on the management, care and support of children with life-limiting conditions and their families.

The Martin House Research Centre, led by York’s Department of Health Sciences in an innovative joint venture with the Hospice, will conduct work focusing on the priorities of families and the professionals who care and work for them.

The Centre will bring together experts including academics from the Universities of York and Leeds, who will work with staff from Martin House Children’s Hospice, health and care professionals and researchers from the UK and beyond. The Centre will deliver evidence and expertise relevant to policy makers, health and care professionals and families.

Life-limiting

Launched at 11.00am on Friday 13 January at the University of York’s King’s Manor, representatives from national charities, researchers, parents and young people will gather to learn about the centre and hear from national figures working within children’s palliative care. Parents and young people with life-limiting conditions will also lead a session sharing their experiences and opinions.

Dr Lorna Fraser, Senior Lecturer in York’s Department of Health Sciences and Director of the Martin House Research Centre, said: “This is a very exciting, much-needed initiative which will allow us to undertake high quality research on areas that are important to children and young people with life-limiting conditions, their families and the clinicians caring for them.

Equitable

“The outputs of the Centre’s research should be the evidence which will help to ensure that all children and families receive equitable, high quality care.”

Angela Monaghan, Chief Executive of Martin House Children’s Hospice, said: “As a hospice with a long-standing commitment to research, we are immensely excited about the launch of the Martin House Research Centre. We are delighted that this exceptional new initiative will enable us to build a stronger evidence base by developing research in this challenging area, enabling us to make a real difference to children, young people and their families who need palliative care services and to the staff who care for them.”

Further information:

The Martin House Research Centre will be led by Dr Lorna Fraser. Other senior researchers include Professor Bryony Beresford (Social Policy Research Unit, University of York), Dr Roger Parslow (University of Leeds) and Martin House Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Dr Jan Aldridge.
Martin House Children’s Hospice

Martin House provides family-led care and support for children and young people with life-limiting conditions (life-limiting means the child or young person is not expected to live beyond young adulthood).

We support over 420 families and 150 bereaved families across West, North and East Yorkshire both at our hospice and in families’ own homes.

The hospice, based in Boston Spa, has nine bedrooms in Martin House, and six in Whitby Lodge, which cares for teenagers and young adults up to the age of 30 (and sometimes beyond). Our services include respite stays, symptom control, emergency care, community care and end of life care.

Bereavement support is offered to families, often for two to three years after their child’s death. We also offer bereavement support to families whose child had a life-limiting condition but did not have the opportunity to use the hospice.

There is no cost to any of the families using our services. It costs in excess of £6 million a year to provide this care, the majority of which comes from voluntary donations and fundraising.

Reg Charity number 517919