The children’s palliative care sector hopes to benefit from new government funding for short breaks for disabled children. To help them do so, ACT (Association for Children’s Palliative Care) and ACH (Association of Children’s Hospices) held a workshop on Tuesday 27 February for over 30 children's palliative care services across England.

Children's palliative care providers already offer a range of much-needed short breaks. They are now looking to offer their services to the 21 local authorities that bid successfully to be “pathfinders” for a £370 million DCSF scheme to offer short breaks to severely disabled children and their families. The programme will be rolled out across England in 2009-10.

Opening the workshop, Christine Lenehan, Director of the Council for Disabled Children, pointed out that life-limited children needed many of the same services as disabled children and urged delegates to work together to grasp the opportunity. She warned, “This is our moment in the sun but it won’t last for ever”. Lenehan added that the government would be providing pathfinders with new tools to help them commission effectively.

Toby Price, who leads on disabled children’s services in the pathfinder authority of Sutton, advised providers not to approach commissioners with ready-made solutions but to be flexible. He said, “We need concrete evidence rather than glossy brochures” and suggested that one way of understanding pathfinders’ thinking was to ask them for the analyses and plans behind their bids. Price said he was delighted that local authorities would be “ahead of the curve for the first time” in meeting growing demand from disabled children.

During the day, a range of statutory and voluntary sector children’s palliative care providers, including children's hospice services, shared experiences of working with commissioners and explored how their services might develop in the future.

After the event, Lizzie Chambers, Chief Executive of the Association for Children's Palliative Care (ACT), commented: “The short breaks funding provides an extra opportunity for children’s palliative care services on top of the new government strategy unveiled last week. Partnership working will be key and we hope the government will support this by funding new palliative care networks.”

Barbara Gelb, Chief Executive of the Association of Children's Hospices (ACH), added: “The new investment means that, from commissioners down, people can at last think about expanding the services that life-limited and disabled children need. It was great to see all parts of the sector so keen to work together.”