Refer a child to Acorns Children’s Hospice

We welcome referrals to Acorns Children’s Hospice from across the West Midlands. Referrals are accepted from a pediatrician, nurse or midwife. To meet our criteria babies, children and young people need to be diagnosed with a life limiting or life threatening condition and have not yet reached their 18^th birthday.

Acorns Criteria for Services

Acorns is a palliative care service for babies, children and young people with life limiting and life threatening conditions.  In line with other contemporary palliative care services we have reviewed our referral criterion which now reflects the medical advances that have been made for children and young people with many now surviving into adulthood:

Acorns will accept children where the referrer would ‘NOT’ be surprised if the child will die before their 25^th birthday’. 

We continue to be a flexible and responsive service however and are always happy to support discussions about potential referrals.

Acorns hospice acceptance criteria

Category 1:  Life-threatening conditions for which curative treatment may be feasible but can fail, where access to palliative care services may be necessary when treatment fails, irrespective of the duration of that threat to life. On reaching long-term remission or following successful curative treatment there is no longer a need for a palliative care services.

Category 2: Conditions where premature death is inevitable, these may involve long periods of intensive disease-directed treatment aimed at prolonging life and allowing participation in normal activities.  Children and young people in this category may be significantly disabled but have long periods of relatively good health.

Category 3:  Progressive conditions without curative treatment options, where treatment is exclusively palliative and may commonly extend over many years.

Category 4: Irreversible but non-progressive conditions causing severe disability leading to susceptibility to health conditions and likelihood of premature death.  Palliative care may be required at any stage and there may be unpredictable and periodic episodes of care.

If you have any enquiries about our care services and would like to speak to a member of the hospice team, please contact your local hospice on the telephone number above.  

Acorns Children’s Hospice referral form

If you would like to make a referral to Acorns please download our referral form and email or post to the hospice local to the family, addresses above.