In May 2026, we hosted two webinars giving professionals the chance to learn about the updated categories of children’s palliative care and the new Toolkit for Palliative Care Needs in Children. If you missed it, you can watch it back here.
What the webinar covers
The session goes through the updated categories in detail, explains what has changed and why, and introduces the toolkit that supports professionals in using them in practice. Topics include:
- Why the categories needed updating: What has changed since 2018, including increasing complexity, longer survival, and variation in access across the system.
- The three updated categories: Life-threatening conditions, life-shortening conditions, and severe medical complexity, and why the focus has shifted from diagnosis to need and risk.
- Why the terminology changed from “life-limiting” to “life-shortening,” based on feedback from families and professionals.
- The surprise question: A graded approach to help professionals start conversations about whether a child may benefit from a palliative care approach.
- The four phases of care (stable, unstable, deteriorating and dying) and what professionals should consider at each stage.
- The support checklist: A red/amber/green rating tool covering child and family needs, support networks, and practical needs such as finance, transport and education
- How universal, core and specialist services work together and when to seek specialist input.
Who is it for?
The webinar is aimed at all professionals supporting children with serious illness, particularly those working in the community, primary care or education settings who may not encounter children’s palliative care regularly. Children’s palliative care is everyone’s business, and the toolkit is designed to be used by non-specialists as well as specialist teams.
