Referrals are accepted from a paediatrician, 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 18th birthday.
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.
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.
Progressive conditions without curative treatment options, where treatment is exclusively palliative and may commonly extend over many years.
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.
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 25th birthday’.
We continue to be a flexible and responsive service however and are always happy to support discussions about potential referrals.
To refer a child to Acorns services, please use our referral form and return to referrals@acorns.org.uk.
If you are looking to refer a child to an Acorns commissioned bed, please use our commissioned beds referral form and return to referrals@acorns.org.uk.
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:
Birmingham Hospice – 0121 248 4850
Black Country Hospice – 01922 422500
Three Counties Hospice – 01905 767676
If your referral is for end-of-life care, please ring the relevant hospice directly. Please note that our email address is not monitored 24 hours a day or at the weekends. You may wish to phone the hospice to confirm that your referral has been received.