Caring for children with complex needs

Caring for a child with complex needs can be a full-time job for parents. "I'm not a nurse but I provide a really high level of care to my daughter Hannah," says one mother, who features in a campaign video for the charity WellChild. "She needs 24-hour care, and every day the care she's given is equivalent to a high dependency unit in a hospital." Her words echo the experiences of parents of more than 100,000 children and young people across the UK living at home with serious illness.

Over the past 20 years, research has demonstrated sick children are better off at home than in hospital. The Department of Health's National Service Framework for Children 2003 states hospital is "disruptive to the child and family and to the care of other children" as well as being costly for families in terms of travel, parking, meals at the hospital, time off work, and extra childcare for siblings. Discharging patients who no longer need to be in hospital is also better for health services, saving them money and freeing up beds.