/Six Children’s Palliative Care Specialists Appointed to Enhance Support in Greater Manchester
– Kentown Support expands its initiative to provide community-based care for seriously ill children.
– New specialist nursing roles will cover areas that previously lacked such services, including Wigan and Bolton.
– Collaboration with Alder Hey’s specialist palliative care team will strengthen the skills of community nurses.
– Families will gain improved access to a range of support services, including counselling and bereavement care.
– Referrals for the new services are now open through the Kentown Support website.
Kentown Support has appointed six Children’s Palliative Care Community Nurse Specialists to its Greater Manchester programme, aimed at delivering specialist community-based care for seriously ill infants, children, and young people, along with their families. Five of the nurses are already in post, with the sixth expected to start this month.
This initiative is pivotal in expanding community palliative care across Greater Manchester, particularly in areas such as Wigan, Bolton, Bury, Tameside, Stockport, and Salford, which previously did not have dedicated children’s palliative care specialists. With each area now assigned a nurse, the initiative seeks to provide more consistent care across the region’s ten areas.
Building on a successful programme in Lancashire and South Cumbria, Kentown Support’s objective is to mitigate the disparities in community palliative care nursing access, which is in line with the Government’s Modern Service Framework for Palliative and End-of-Life Care that emphasizes equitable access to high-quality, responsive support.
The introduction of these specialists will grant families more choices regarding where their child receives care. Each nurse will collaborate with existing children’s palliative care services, including teams in Heywood, Middleton & Rochdale (HMR), Oldham, and Trafford, as well as the Children’s Palliative Care (STAR) team and local hospices.
Davina Hartley, Programme Manager for the North West Children’s Cancer Operational Delivery Network, expressed enthusiasm for the new initiative: “The Kentown Support Programme is a fantastic initiative bringing together services for children with palliative and end of life care needs across Greater Manchester. This will undoubtedly improve the support available to families, as a truly multi-agency offer, including counselling, bereavement support, family support, and clinical provision… This is a huge step forward that will help to reduce inequalities, improve integrated access to care, and strengthen the support available across health, social care, community services, and voluntary sector organisations.”
The collaboration also includes a three-year partnership with Alder Hey’s specialist palliative care team, designed to enhance the skills and confidence of the Children’s Palliative Care Community Nurse Specialists. Each nurse will participate in a clinical rotation within Alder Hey for up to six months, gaining valuable experience and tailored development in palliative care competencies.
Adrienne Rushton, Lead Nurse for Palliative and Bereavement Care at Alder Hey, shared her optimism about the project: “The Specialist Palliative Care Team (SPCT) is looking forward to collaborating on this project. We hope it will help more families access high-quality palliative care nursing support and play a part in reducing inequalities in palliative care delivery.”
In addition to nursing support, families can access therapeutic counselling, bereavement support, and family service coordination through Kentown Support’s Greater Manchester programme. Mollie Whitworth, Neuromuscular Specialist Practitioner for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, noted the positive experiences associated with referrals to Kentown Support for therapeutic counselling: “Our experience of referring to Kentown Support for Therapeutic Counselling has been extremely positive… The service has been invaluable, particularly as we do not have direct psychological support available for our babies, children, young people, and families.”
Referrals for the new services are open and can be made via the Kentown Support website.
