Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole has pledged her continued support for children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions at a Westminster event held by children’s palliative care charity Together for Short Lives. The event took place last week during Children’s Hospice Week (13-20 June), the national awareness and fundraising week for children not expected to reach adulthood and the services, like children’s hospices, that support them.
Annette met with Anna Gill OBE, a parent carer of a young person with a life-limiting condition, in addition to representatives from Together for Short Lives, the charity behind Children’s Hospice Week. She agreed to write to the local clinical commissioning group and local authorities to ask what action they are taking to integrate services for children who need palliative care. Annette also committed to asking health and social care commissioners how they were funding palliative care services supporting children with life-limiting conditions – and their families – in Mid Dorset and North Poole.
Annette said: “Providers of children’s palliative care, like Julia’s House offer a vital lifeline to families. Yet commissioning of services, particularly from the voluntary sector, is patchy and inconsistent. Well commissioned and co-ordinated palliative care helps families make to the most of their time together and enables services to develop to meet their needs.
“It is essential that health and social care services work together to ensure that services are joined up and funded fairly and sustainably by the NHS and local authorities to ensure that the excellent care they provide can continue.”
