This is when a 24-hour helpline for parents of children in palliative care will be launched in Malaga province
The regional government's service will be rolled out to all eight provinces in Andalucía by the end of the year
Andalucía's regional ministry of health is extending the care for children in palliative care. Through the Andalusian public health service (SAS), it has initiated the implementation of an innovative model of continuous care for families of children in this stage of life who are hospitalised at home. It is a telephone service active 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Malaga will be the first province to implement this project as of 22 September.
On 24 July, president of the Junta regional government Juanma Moreno promised parents to roll out this service before the end of 2025. "I'm going to move mountains to solve this," he said, alluding to the extension of the telephone line beyond 3pm when it usually stops answering.
The project will provide parents with immediate professional assistance, answers to doubts and specialised support at any time.
The telephone helpline service will be deployed in stages. The first phase starts this month in Malaga province - on 22 September. A second province and an interprovincial node will be added in October. By the end of the year, all eight Andalusian provinces should have the service active.
Possibility to make video calls
Among the measures implemented are the provision of corporate mobile lines that will facilitate both calls and video calls, the creation of a joint working group to establish a protocol for continuous care throughout the region and coordination for the referral of patients.
The plan also includes the development of tailored clinical registers, the monitoring of activity through control tools and family satisfaction surveys, with the aim of guaranteeing quality and assessing the impact of care.
The Junta has stressed that "all provinces are prepared to respond to the needs of paediatric patients in the last days of life, adapting the resources to the characteristics of each area and to the specific demand for care".
This care is provided in a coordinated manner between specific palliative care units, primary care teams, emergency services and home hospitalisation facilities, with the common objective of offering comprehensive, humanised and accessible care at all times. In addition, Andalucía has a consolidated network of at least one palliative care unit for minors in each province.
