In partnership with KissyPuppy, a charity which was set up by Aaron Rolf and Gemma Blamire in memory of their daughter Sophie, and the local NHS Children’s Community Team, we are able to ensure any child with a life shortening illness and their family get the local support that they need.

Since 2013, we have been able to offer a bespoke, flexible room within the hospice ward where children or young people can receive end of life care locally, delivered by the Children’s Community Team. The hospice also provides a resting service for after death care.

Nothing can take away the unbearable pain of the death of a child, but how we care for a child and those around them during the last part of their journey can make a very real difference.

Feedback from families and the Children’s Community Team has shown that what we offer is a highly valued extension to our usual role within the local community

Just to know that we had a choice at the end. That WE could choose where our child went and how long we could stay with her. That WE could decide when the time was right to say goodbye. To have that choice at a time where all other choices were out of our hands was more important than we could have possibly foreseen. The kindness shown to us by the Hospice staff, who themselves were in unfamiliar territory, was extraordinary. It’s very hard to convey something so personal in words but at the lowest point in our family’s life when we felt so wholly alone they made us feel that we were anything but... (Parents)

The provision of a resting space at the hospice has given the families a sanctuary. A sanctuary where they can spend time with their loved one in an environment which is a home from home. Being able to access the expertise within the hospice team is giving these families a choice that was not available before and the positives that come from this are immeasurable. (Children's Community Team Leader)

The service has won three awards

• the Annual Hospice Innovation Award at the 2015 Hospice UK national conference in Liverpool in November 2015
• the award for ‘Improving Services for Children and Young People’ at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust Awards in March 2016
• the ‘Chairman’s Diamond Award’ at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust Awards in March 2016