Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to increase funding for the provision of palliative care of children, including to (a) ensure that (i) children’s community nursing teams are fully staffed and (ii) children’s hospices are sustainably funded and (b) create the post of specialist practitioner.
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the provision of high quality child palliative care, regardless of location, supported by sustainable funding of at least £7m per year through CHAS (Children’s Hospices Across Scotland).
We are working with NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), Health Boards and CHAS to improve the sustainability and oversight of funding for CHAS and to develop a long term sustainable funding model.
The Palliative Care Strategy Steering Group’s Children and Young People’s Working Group is developing new actions to address equity and continuity of access to paediatric palliative care, including the staffing models required to deliver this.