Shooting Star Children's Hospice

The Shooting Star Children's Hospice (known as 'Shooting Star House') is a UK based children's registered charity. The charity provides palliative care and support for children and young people with life-limiting conditions.

The hospice, which is located in Hampton, London, 2 miles from Hampton Court Palace, consists of 10 children's bedrooms and 6 family rooms. Other facilities include The Hydrotherapy Pool & Spa, The Sensory Room, The Music Therapy Room and wet and dry play areas. Care and support is offered to children and families, free of charge, 365 days a year.

£2.5 million is required each year to run the hospice care services, which is raised mainly from voluntary charitable donations. There is no long-term statutory funding for children's hospices.

History
The Shooting Star Children's Hospice was founded in 1995 with the aim of "Enhancing quality of life, when every moment counts". There are up to 1500 life-limited children, young people and their families in the western half of London and north Surrey who could benefit from the hospice care services at Shooting Star House.

The hospice was officially opened by Charles, Prince of Wales and his wife, Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall on 21 February 2006, although children were admitted to the hospice from August 2005.

For further information, please visit www.shootingstar.org.uk

Services
The Shooting Star Children's Hospice offers the following services to the children and their families:
 * Respite breaks
 * Care in the child's own home
 * Post diagnosis support and counselling
 * End of Life care
 * Bereavement counselling and support
 * Advocacy to facilitate access to other services
 * Support for the whole family