Palliative Care: Children
(asked on 7th January 2019) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will provide guidance to local commissioners to encourage the commissioning of support for the siblings of children with life-threatening and terminal conditions.
In December 2016, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published the guideline ‘End of Life Care for Infants, Children and Young People: Planning and Management’.
This guidance emphasises the need to be aware that siblings will need support to cope with their brother's or sister's condition and death and the effects of their parents' or carers' grieving. This may include social, practical, psychological and spiritual support.
To support implementation of the guidance NHS England commissioned Together for Short Lives, a leading children’s end of life care charity, to examine services across the country to identify best practice in implementation of the guidance, as well as barriers, through interviews with local NHS services. More information about this work and a copy of the NICE guidance can be found at the following links:
Hospices providing children and young people’s palliative care can also provide important support to the families of those caring for children with life limiting conditions. NHS England has recently announced plans to increase funding for children’s hospices to as much as £25 million a year over the next five years, as part of the NHS long term plan.