A new evaluation reports such positive experience that the Regional Council has decided to extend the offer to children and young people throughout the region, says Christoffer Buster Reinhardt (Conservative), Vice Chair of the Regional Council and Chair of the Health Committee.
"These children and adolescents need very special care. They need to feel welcome and safe when they visit the hospital. Getting children the right help early on can help improve wellbeing and reduce the negative consequences of serious illness in the family. A positive movement is underway in which children are treated as individuals on a par with their adult relatives," says Christoffer Buster Reinhardt.
Need for support during illness and death
Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable when a parent is hospitalised with a life-threatening or serious chronic illness. They are often overlooked and risk developing anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. For this reason, the Capital Region of Denmark is strengthening efforts to identify and support children when a relative falls seriously ill.
"The goal is to help parents to help their children so that both children and their families can better cope with the emotional challenges and dilemmas that arise when they are struck by illness and death," explains Programme Manager Annemarie Dencker from the National Grief Centre, who is the author of the evaluation report Strengthened involvement and support for children as relatives (In Danish: "Styrket inddragelse og støtte til børn som pårørende").
"Increased awareness has led to a much more systematic approach to taking care of children when they visit the participating departments. Healthcare staff have become more proactive. They ask whether there are children in the family, they invite them to the hospital, and they ask about the family's overall situation," says Annemarie Dencker.
The project to prepare healthcare staff to meet the children has been implemented in 27 somatic departments in five hospitals in close collaboration with the Danish Cancer Society and the National Grief Centre.
Big difference for children and families
Marianne Karstensen, Chair of the Regional Committee of the Danish Cancer Society in the Capital Region of Denmark, is very enthusiastic about the Regional Council's decision.
"I'd like to thank the Regional Council for prioritising permanent funds for the area so that we can continue the good work already underway. I'd also like to thank the National Grief Centre and the Capital Region of Denmark for their great collaboration, which I look forward to continuing.
Together, we can make a big difference for children and their families," says Marianne Karstensen.
The initiative itself is based on a five-day training course for staff, and 93 child coordinators have been trained at the departments. The project has primarily been at oncology and neurology departments, which usually have a high proportion of seriously ill patients with children.
"The children are much more top of mind for the staff. It's also been important to anchor the initiative locally during the pilot project. Now our experience will be spread to all relevant departments and include psychiatry and children with seriously ill siblings," says Christoffer Buster Reinhardt.
Facts:
- The region has allocated almost DKK 2 million annually to the project, and this is being supplemented by government funding allocated in the 2022 Finance Act to strengthen help for children and adolescents who are relatives of parents or siblings with serious somatic or psychiatric illness.
- The Finance Act funds have been granted for a three-year period and DKK 5 million has been allocated annually, which is being distributed to the regions according to a fixed allocation key. The Capital Region expects to receive approximately DKK 1.5 million annually for three years.
- Every day, five children in Denmark lose a mother or father. Every year, 1,000 children and young people lose a sibling, while 35,000 children experience a parent being hospitalized with a critical illness. An average of six to seven children in any Danish primary school have lost one or both parents.
Contact
The Capital Region of Denmark press service: +45 70209588