This week, the Kentown Support Children’s Community Palliative Care Programme, launches across Greater Manchester, bringing community-based palliative and end of life care to babies, children and young people with serious illness across the region.
Across Greater Manchester, children’s hospices and local NHS and voluntary sector services do wonderful work, but support in the community has varied from area to area, and the demand is rising. Until now, only four of the ten localities have had a community-based children’s palliative care nurse, and for some families, being able to care for their child at home has not always been possible.
Nick Carroll, Chief Executive at Together for Short Lives, said: “We’re proud to be working with Kentown Support on this programme. Too many families in Greater Manchester have faced fragmented care, so by bringing partners together as one team, we can help children with serious illness and their families get the coordinated support and clear information they need.”
By working with the services already in place and adding support where it is needed, the programme brings partners together as one team:
- Together for Short Lives coordinates and helps families navigate services through our Kentown Family Services Coordinators.
- NHS Greater Manchester provides nursing support through dedicated Kentown Support Nurses.
- Gaddum provides therapeutic counselling, sibling support and bereavement support
- Alder Hey Children’s Hospital provides specialist training, telephone advice and supervision for the nursing team.
- A single point of access makes it quicker and simpler for families and professionals to reach the right support.
Through the programme, we aim to help families feel heard, understand what is happening and the choices they have, find out what support is available locally and how to reach it, and have their say in shaping services. We also support the professionals around them to get families the practical and emotional help they need.
It reflects the ambition set out in the UK Government’s modern service framework for Palliative and End of Life Care: equitable access to high quality, responsive support based on need. By working this way across Greater Manchester, and learning as it goes, the programme aims to bring more consistent, coordinated care to families now, and to inform how children’s community palliative care develops across the UK.
Find out more about the programme via the button below.