Iain Duncan Smith has praised Haven House Children’s Hospice for launching a new service to provide hospice care at home and says it will help hard to reach families in Waltham Forest by giving them more choice.  

The Conservative MP for Chingford and Woodford Green visited Haven House Children’s Hospice on Friday 30 September and met with Chief Executive Mike Palfreman ahead of Hospice Care Week.

Mr Duncan Smith, a patron of Haven House, praised its brand new ‘Hospice at Home’ pilot project for the London Borough of Waltham Forest.

Working in partnership with the Waltham Forest Children's Community Nursing Team, Haven House has started to provide a range of services to several families in their homes in the borough.  

Services include pain, symptom and medication management, play and music therapy sessions, specialist emotional and bereavement support and end-of-life care. The pilot, which will run until the spring of 2017, has been launched in response to calls for greater choice from families.

Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, said: “Hospice care is vital for children with life-limiting conditions which is why we need to make sure we reach as many families as possible.

“There are some families who find it difficult for their children to be cared for outside of the home due to faith and cultural differences, but also others who simply prefer to be in a more familiar environment.

“Hospice at Home is an excellent project for Haven House to be undertaking to help reach these families. 

Mike Palfreman, Chief Executive of Haven House, said: “We are delighted to receive praise for our Hospice at Home pilot project from Iain Duncan Smith.

“Iain is absolutely right to state the importance of Hospice at Home in reaching families who find it difficult to accept care in a hospice setting.

“Each year we support more and more families, however there will always be some who prefer to receive care at home for their children.

“We believe Hospice at Home will help us reach some of these families and give greater choice to parents.

“We have already had interest from our partners in neighbouring boroughs about the project.”

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