Palliative care for children should not be a bewildering lottery Commissioners should ensure that everyone, everywhere is offered the same level of care regardless of their age or complexity of diagnosis
Across the UK, babies, children and young adults with life-shortening conditions and their families not only face enormous physical, emotional and social difficulties, but also the bewildering inconsistency and complexity of palliative and specialist care provision and its commissioning. The often discussed postcode lottery affecting healthcare provision doesn’t stop with location; there is also a lottery around age and complexity of condition.
Many people will be surprised to learn there is a big difference between the provision of specialist palliative care for adults and the provision of the same standard of care for children and young people. If a child or an adult needs treatment to ease or relieve their symptoms, they can be treated by a GP. Adults with complex symptoms and diseases who cannot be treated in primary care may then be referred to a specialist team, including a medical consultant specialising in palliative care (who is often funded or part funded by the NHS). Sadly this is not always the case for children, as there are not robust and equitable commissioning arrangements and nor are there adequate numbers of doctors trained to the required level.
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