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ACT members will know that there have been some exciting developments in children’s palliative care in Scotland. Following the ACT Transition conference in Edinburgh in April 2007, a number of conference delegates expressed an interest in developing a Scottish children’s palliative care network.
The inaugural meeting of the network took place in September 2007 – with a view to setting the network wheels in motion. We are delighted to report that this first meeting was extremely well attended - 18 children’s palliative care practitioners working across Scotland joined together. Organisations represented in the Network include: CHAS; Yorkhill Hospital; Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh; Family Fund and Dundee University. ACT's Head of Policy and Practice Katrina McNamara- Goodger also attended and Rory Farrelly, National Adviser (Scotland) to Chief Nursing Officer for Children’s and Young People’s Nursing, chaired the meeting.
Feedback from the 1st Scottish Network Meeting
Scottish Government Update:
Funding for four nurse consultants across Scotland for a secondment opportunity or fixed term contract, which will be hosted in four NHS Health Boards which are Lothian; Greater Glasgow and Clyde; Tayside and Grampian. It is anticipated that the post holders will help with the development of an End of Life Pathway, pain and symptom management and transitional care for children and young people with palliative care needs in Scotland. It is anticipated that these posts will be out to advert in November/December 2007.
Better Health Better Care consultation document for Scotland. Rory urged all those involved in children’s and young people’s palliative care in Scotland to respond to the consultation exercise – see http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/02/21161719/
Services Update
Dermot Murphy (Consultant Oncologist, Yorkhill Hospital) talked to the network about the UK Mapping Project (managed by ACT and ACH) which is now being rolled-out across the UK. All those attending were enthusiastic about the project, and felt that as Scotland has an easily identifiable population, it would be a useful and relatively straightforward exercise to undertake, both to identify need and services.
Katrina McNamara-Goodger will discuss a possible Scottish mapping project with Sonja Ezergailis, who has just been appointed as the new Mapping Project Manager. You can contact Sonja at
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or call 01248 600214.
The Scottish Network – Taking Things Forward:
The main focus of the new Scottish Network will be to help shape a national perspective on children’s palliative care and to provide an opportunity to share information. It’s hoped that the group will also have the potential to develop working groups to take identified projects forward.
The Network membership wanted to ensure involvement from a wide range of key players, including: representation from each of the Boards; the Children's Commissioner; hospice and voluntary sector staff; Nurse consultants, as well as public involvement.
The network will have an advisory element and provide a forum to pull inter-professional/interagency working together and encourage exchange of ideas and information. It’s hoped that it will inform an education and training strategy and provide an opportunity to engage with the nurse consultants, as well as adult services to promote effective transition. There is also potential to provide support and leadership for children’s palliative care in Scotland, help identify gaps in service provision and contribute to promoting equality of service.
Why not get involved?
Membership of the network is open to anyone in Scotland with an interest in children's palliative care. Contact Katrina McNamara-Goodger at
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Funding
ACT is delighted to announce that our work in helping to develop a Scottish Children’s Palliative Care Network has been made possible with generous funding from The Souter Charitable Trust, The Russell Trust, and The MacRobert Trust.
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