Aims Despite the growing number of children within the UK who suffer life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, there remain significant barriers to the timely integration of palliative care services for many patients. We sought to evaluate…
Ensuring a safe and effective transition of young people with chronic illness and disability from paediatric care to adult health services is a key quality issue for the NHS. To achieve this, three elements must be pursued with vigour. Firstly, a…
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the evidence on the transition process from child to adult services for young people with palliative care needs. DESIGN: Systematic review. SETTING: Child and adult services and interface between healthcare providers. PATIENTS:…
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is familiar to paediatricians as the most common childhood muscular dystrophy and leads to severe disability and early death in the late teenage years if untreated. Improvements in general care, glucocorticoid…
Objectives Using transmucosal fentanyl as an opioid for rapid acting, needle-free breakthrough relief of symptoms is established within paediatric palliative medicine.1 2 Medication administration via the buccal route is commonly used in paediatric…
Objective Advance Care Planning (ACP) is nationally a core element of adult and paediatric palliative care strategies. It is defined as a process of discussion between an individual, their care providers and those close to them, about future care.…
Objectives Children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions (LLLTC) have complex needs and are high users of health and social care. Several quality standards exist that highlight the importance of addressing the needs and wishes of…
OBJECTIVE: End-of-life decision-making is difficult for everyone involved, as many studies have shown. Within this complexity, there has been little information on how parents see the role of doctors in end-of-life decision-making for children. This…
Recent high-profile cases have highlighted the difficulties that professionals caring for terminally ill or technology dependent children face. I am a paediatrician. I see children with severe problems, often chronic and frequently without a cure,…
Aims There is a statutory requirement to review all child deaths in England. The aim of this study is to collate and evaluate child death data from all Child Death Overview Panels (CDOPs) within a single UK region to inform strategic planning.…
OBJECTIVE: To review the work of one tertiary paediatric palliative care service in facilitating planned withdrawal of ventilatory support outside the intensive care setting, with the purpose of developing local guidance for practice. METHODS:…
