Alder Hey’s Specialist Palliative Care Team (SPCT) is working with Kentown Support to strengthen specialist palliative care skills and support for children and young people across Greater Manchester.
The three-year partnership will see Alder Hey share its specialist expertise with Kentown Support’s Children’s Palliative Care Community Nurse Specialists, helping to build their knowledge, confidence and clinical skills when caring for children and young people with complex palliative care needs in the community.
Alder Hey’s SPCT is a highly skilled team of specialist palliative care nurses and doctors supporting babies, children and young people at Alder Hey, across Cheshire and Merseyside, and more widely across the North West.
As part of the programme, Kentown Support nurses will have opportunities to learn directly from the Alder Hey team through clinical rotations, regular supervision and access to specialist advice.
The programme includes:
- Clinical rotations: Each Kentown Support nurse will spend up to six months embedded within Alder Hey’s SPCT, developing their palliative care competencies through clinical experience.
- Clinical supervision: Every two months, Alder Hey’s Lead Nurse for Palliative Care will facilitate group supervision, providing a safe space to reflect on complex clinical situations and share learning.
- Specialist advice: Kentown Support nurses will be able to seek advice from Alder Hey’s specialist palliative care nurses and doctors by telephone or Microsoft Teams when additional expertise is needed.
The partnership supports national priorities for more coordinated children’s palliative care and better access to specialist advice and training.
“The SPCT is looking forward to collaborating on this project. We hope it will help more families access high-quality palliative care nursing support and play a part in reducing inequalities in palliative care delivery.” said Adrienne Rushton, Lead Nurse for Palliative and Bereavement Care at Alder Hey.
The programme will also create opportunities for learning from the Alder Hey rotations to be shared with wider community nursing teams, extending the benefit of specialist palliative care education across local services.
Through the partnership, Alder Hey is supporting community colleagues to strengthen the delivery of palliative care closer to home and help more children, young people and their families access high-quality specialist support.