Childre
n and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions across West Yorkshire are benefiting from improvements to palliative and end-of-life care services, according to a new evaluation report.
Evaluation report: paediatric palliative care projects 2024-25
The report outlines the progress made through a series of projects funded by West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) to strengthen support for children, young people and their families.
The work forms part of a wider ambition across the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership to ensure that families can access compassionate, equitable, high-quality and seamless palliative and end-of-life care services, whenever they are needed.
Interim Director of Nursing and Quality Sayma Mirza said: “This work has given us a much clearer picture of the strengths within our current services, as well as the areas where families need additional support. The findings will help shape future commissioning decisions and ensure we continue to improve access to high-quality paediatric palliative and end-of-life care for children, young people and their families across West Yorkshire.”
The evaluation highlights how the projects have helped build a clearer understanding of existing services across the region, identified gaps in provision and provided evidence to guide future investment decisions. Priorities emerging from the work include improving access to out-of-hours community nursing, expanding home-based care, increasing specialist paediatric palliative care support and ensuring services are delivered equitably across all communities.
The report also details the challenges encountered during delivery and the impact achieved so far, providing valuable insight into how services can continue to evolve to meet the needs of children and families.