Dignity and Integrated Expertise – Our Mission
We believe that a seriously ill child needs more than medical treatment. They need an entire system of care that surrounds and holds both the child and their family. Our programme was established with the support of the second phase of the Swiss–Hungarian Cooperation Programme, with the aim of creating an integrated palliative care unit where clinical expertise and human dignity are never placed at odds.
An Integrated Palliative Care Unit
An integrated palliative care unit is a model based on the coordinated delivery of different forms of palliative care.
Its purpose is to ensure that children requiring palliative care always receive care suited to their current condition, needs, wishes and individual circumstances. This also ensures continuity when moving between different forms of care.
The model is built on close cooperation between different professional disciplines and levels of care. This enables more thoughtful coordination of care pathways and ensures that patients leaving hospital receive appropriate support when continuing their care at home.
Our Professional and Social Objectives
1. Personalised, Integrated Care
Our primary goal is to ensure that every child receives care tailored to their current condition and needs, as well as to the wishes of their family. Flexibility lies at the heart of the integrated model: we provide seamless transitions between hospital departments and home care, coordinating care pathways so that families can be together in the setting where they feel safest.
2. Safe and Precise Symptom Control
Our work is guided by strict clinical guidelines and evidence-based medicine. This ensures the safety of both patients and healthcare professionals, from pain relief to the management of the most complex symptoms.
3. Building Bridges Between Professions and Forms of Care
We establish close communication between different medical teams and levels of care – because a child’s care cannot end at the hospital door.
4. Raising Awareness and Promoting Social Responsibility
Our mission also includes raising public awareness and making the situation of families under severe strain more widely understood. We work to promote wider acceptance of this form of care among both the public and decision-makers, so that PPC is not regarded as a marginal field but becomes a sustainable and integral part of the Hungarian healthcare system.
5. Research and Continuous Development
As a university-based unit, one of our fundamental objectives is to conduct research and organisational work that supports the continued development of care. We continuously evaluate and refine our methods to ensure that the children who come to us always receive the most up-to-date care available.