A Guide to End of Life Care has been produced by Together for Short Lives to provide guidance surrounding care of children at end of life and after death. Practitioners have generally adapted guidance more suited for adult palliative care when treating children. However, children’s palliative care brings its own unique emotional, medical and legal challenges, which this new publication hopes to respond to.
The guide acts as a manual for best practice at the end of life in settings such as hospitals, hospices or at home. ‘End of Life prompts’ provide an easy way for practitioners to reference the guide and to make sure that they have covered every aspect of care.
Topics covered include the stages of care before death, care at the time of death and care after death. Spirituality, ethnicity, culture and religion is covered, and guidance is provided on talking with children, sharing news and having difficult conversations. There is also detailed information provided on transferring the body, funeral arrangements and bereavement support.
The guide is available on the Together For Short Lives website online for free, and can be ordered in print for £15.
In part of the same End of Life Planning series, The verification of expected death in childhood is also available to download for free, which we reported on last year.
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