Trinity lecturer Dr Maria Brenner has led a Europe-wide research project that has developed the first-ever principles for treating children with complex care needs.
Brenner, from Trinity’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, headed up a collaborative research team in exploring the health systems from over 30 countries. The research was published in two papers in an international journal, The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.
Complex care is defined as multi-dimensional health and social care needs when an individual has a medical condition, or where there is no single diagnosis.
Due to improvements in neonatal and paediatric care, more and more children with complex care needs are surviving beyond infancy into late childhood and adulthood.
While acknowledging that no “one-size-fits-all” approach exists for facilitating the care of children living with complex care needs, Brenner’s team has presented core principles that aim to improve the quality of care delivery for children with complex care needs, and to support parents as primary caregivers.
The team’s first paper presents the current state of complex care management and integration for children. This paper highlights issues in the delivery of care, including enhanced pathways to specialist care, empowerment of families to engage in the design and delivery of care, and the need for comprehensive national integrated care programmes.
The second paper discusses the development of principles and standards for effective care for children with complex care needs. The paper presents three main principles for care delivery: access to care, co-creation of care, and effective integrated governance.
In a press statement, Brenner said: “The findings from this multinational and multi-health-system perspective across 30 countries, offer, for the first time, a means to benchmark existing services for children living with complex care needs and their families.”
“They serve as a reference point for policy makers and health and social care professionals to support optimal practice in the care of children living with complex care needs”, she said. “This is essential to support equity of access to care, trust and transparency in care delivery.”
