Trends in 5-year groups of age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation, referral source and diagnostic categories of referrals to children’s hospice
| 1984–1988 (n=133) | 1989–1993 (n=437) | 1994–1998 (n=309) | 1999–2003 (n=331) | 2004–2008 (n=344) | Total (n=1554) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No of deaths | 34 | 176 | 211 | 197 | 234 | 852 | |
| Age (years) | |||||||
| Minimum* | −0.29 | −0.01 | −0.001 | −0.001 | −0.12 | −0.29 | |
| Maximum | 23.59 | 23.63 | 19.05 | 25.51 | 26.51 | 26.51 | |
| Mean† | 8.21 | 7.92 | 7.34 | 7.49 | 6.67 | 7.45 | |
| SD | 5.86 | 5.48 | 7.48 | 5.74 | 6.27 | 5.75 | |
| Not known | 6 (4.5%) | 15 (3.4%) | 5 (1.6%) | 0 | 0 | 26 (1.7%) | |
| Sex | |||||||
| Female | 57 (42.9%) | 166 (37.9%) | 110 (35.7%) | 153 (46.1%) | 139 (40.3%) | 625 (40.1%) | |
| Male | 75 (56.4%) | 264 (60.3%) | 198 (64.3%) | 178 (53.9%) | 204 (59.1%) | 920 (59.6%) | |
| Not known | 1 (0.8%) | 7 (1.6%) | 1 (0.3%) | 0 | 1 (0.3%) | 10 (0.6%) | |
| Ethnicity | |||||||
| South Asian | 4 (3%) | 25 (5.7%) | 21 (6.8%) | 73 (22.0%) | 91 (26.4%) | 214 (13.8%) | |
| Townsend category | |||||||
| 1 (least deprived) | 29 (21.8%) | 47 (10.8%) | 54 (17.5%) | 45 (13.6%) | 59 (17.2%) | 234 (15.1%) | |
| 2 | 24 (18.0%) | 69 (15.8%) | 55 (17.8%) | 63 (19.0%) | 53 (15.4%) | 264 (17.0%) | |
| 3 | 18 (13.5%) | 76 (17.4%) | 51 (16.5%) | 57 (17.2%) | 51 (14.8%) | 253 (16.3%) | |
| 4 | 16 (12.0%) | 68 (15.6%) | 37 (12.0%) | 62 (18.7%) | 63 (18.3%) | 246 (15.8%) | |
| 5 (most deprived) | 25 (18.8%) | 95 (21.7%) | 95 (30.7%) | 88 (26.6%) | 104 (30.2%) | 407 (26.2%) | |
| Not known | 21 (15.8%) | 82 (18.8%) | 17 (5.5%) | 16 (4.8%) | 14 (4.1%) | 150 (9.7%) | |
| Referral source | |||||||
| Family | 47 (35.3%) | 85 (19.5%) | 40 (12.9%) | 26 (7.9%) | 23 (6.7%) | 221 (14.2%) | |
| GP | 11 (8.3%) | 20 (4.6%) | 6 (1.9%) | 7 (2.1%) | 8 (2.3%) | 52 (3.3%) | |
| Social work | 13 (9.8%) | 106 (24.3%) | 56 (18.1%) | 55 (16.6%) | 37 (10.8%) | 267 (17.2%) | |
| Hospital | 20 (15.0%) | 107 (24.5%) | 131 (42.4%) | 138 (41.2%) | 150 (43.6%) | 546 (35.1%) | |
| Community | 18 (13.5%) | 66 (15.1%) | 63 (20.4%) | 96 (29.0%) | 105 (30.5%) | 348 (22.4%) | |
| Other | 23 (17.3%) | 50 (11.4%) | 13 (4.2%) | 9 (2.7%) | 16 (4.7%) | 111 (7.1%) | |
| Not known | 1 (0.8%) | 4 (0.9%) | 0 | 0 | 5 (1.5%) | 10 (0.6%) | |
| Association of Children’s Palliative Care category | |||||||
| 1 | 24 (18.0%) | 89 (20.4%) | 75 (24.3%) | 60 (18.1%) | 45 (13.1%) | 293 (18.9%) | |
| 2 | 17 (12.8%) | 46 (10.5%) | 55 (17.8%) | 40 (12.1%) | 44 (12.8%) | 202 (13.0%) | |
| 3 | 68 (51.1%) | 226 (51.7%) | 112 (36.2%) | 159 (48.0%) | 128 (38.7%) | 693 (44.6%) | |
| 4 | 24 (18.0%) | 77 (17.6%) | 67 (21.2%) | 0 | 72 (21.8%) | 127 (38.45) | 367 (23.6%) |
| Not known | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |