Home Based Pediatric Palliative Care in the UK: Lessons to Learn?

Home Based Pediatric Palliative Care in the UK: Lessons to Learn?

Waldman E; Hemsley J; Comac M; McCulloch R

Journal of Pain and Symptom Management

2025

While pediatric hospice and palliative medicine as a field have experienced enormous growth over the past twenty years, much work remains to be done, including establishing best practices and guidelines for provision of home-based palliative care and hospice. A recent publication in JPSM by several leaders in the field highlighted a number of existing gaps. In the UK, many of these gaps have been addressed through innovations in systems of care, resulting in a robust community and home-based care delivery system. We will review what home and community-based care looks like in the UK, emphasizing the significant strengths as well as where gaps remain, and ask whether, despite there being two very different healthcare systems, pediatric palliative care providers in both places may learn lessons from each other. Admittedly, the healthcare systems differ in a number of key ways, not the least of which is payment models. This presentation will be led by a British physician and nurse practitioner, both of whom have extensive experience in pediatric palliative care in the UK across various settings. They will be joined by a physician with years of experience in pediatric palliative care delivery in the US who relocated to the UK a year ago, and who will highlight areas where providers of community-based care in the US may learn from the UK system, as well as areas where gaps remain in the UK system. We will also include a brief video presentation that highlights aspects of the UK home-based care system through interviews with multiple providers. The overarching message of course is that neither system is perfect, but that perhaps each may learn from the other to help close gaps in care.

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June List 2025