Update from the Wessex Palliative Care Network

​The Wessex Children’s & Young Adult’s Palliative Care Network have had a busy few months setting up training days, a quarterly journal club and network forum meetings to discuss complex cases and share experience and challenges. We held an Advance Care Planning training day in November exploring and training on the Children & Young Persons Advance Care Plan version 5, and a Practical Symptom Management training day in February, diving deep into symptom management at the end of life. We are developing guidelines and shared policies to support equitable end of life care across Wessex and working with integrated care boards, managed clinical networks and providers to support the development of sustainable 24/7 services. We are approaching the end of another 6 months and a Wessex 6 monthly update will follow shortly. 

​There are some exciting educational opportunities coming up in 2024 including perinatal advance care planning, how to manage pain in children with severe neurological impairment and more:

23rd May 1-2.30pm: Network forum meeting – focus on pain in children with severe neurological impairment. Following on from our case study of Elisa, Dr Warlow will be discussing pain in children with severe neurological impairment, how to assess it, manage it and important considerations working with children and families to improve quality of life. Join us following this teams link below. Find out more on our network education page here… https://www.piernetwork.org/wcyapcn-education-training-2024.html

On Teams - ​​Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID:  338 699 599 995
Passcode: RQRNcc

June 13th: Neonatal Training Day: Perinatal Advance Care Planning. This training day will follow a similar format to the Advance Care Planning Training Day in Nov 23 but focus on perinatal advance care planning. Talking to parents expecting babies with a diagnosis that may be life limiting or where there is significant uncertainty is daunting for anyone. For many teams it doesn’t happen often, so it is vital that when parents find themselves in this difficult situation, professionals are able to speak with them confidently about their options. This day will introduce the perinatal version of the CYPACP version 5 and boost confidence as we learn together in small groups about how to council families expecting a child with a possible life limiting condition or those whose babies have been diagnosed post-natally unexpectedly. This day is under development so watch out for more information on our education and training page here…https://www.piernetwork.org/wcyapcn-education-training-2024.html

13th September 2024: Paediatric Palliative Care Foundation Study Day at University Hospitals Southampton – Back following a hugely successful day earlier in the year. This study day is for nurses based on wards/in hospices/in the community who want to explore many aspects of palliative care they will come across in their roles. Sessions include content on the following: Breaking bad news, Advanced Care Plans, Symptom Management Plan, Use of syringe drivers, Non-pharmacological pain management, Care of a child after death, Use of the mortuary, Bereavement support. Booking is open now! https://www.piernetwork.org/wcyapcn-education-training-2024.html
We are looking to expand our WCYAPCN management, education and training group, so if you are interested in joining us to develop guidelines, contribute to forums for discussion, help on training days, or take forward your own project in the field of CYA Palliative Care do get in touch with us at [email protected]

We look forward to seeing you soon! Please subscribe to our mailing list for more information using the QR code attached.

Tim Warlow
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Clinical Lead and Chair, Wessex Children’s & Young Adults’ Palliative Care Network