Evaluation of the children's palliative care programme (CPCP)

A comprehensive needs assessment completed in 2005 identified that children’s palliative care services needed to be strengthened (Dept of Health/Irish Hospice Foundation). In 2009 the Department of Health published Palliative Care for Children with Life-limiting Conditions – A National Policy. The policy was a universally agreed vision for improving children’s palliative care in Ireland. The document included 19 recommendations (further subdivided into 31 individual recommendations) to be implemented on a phased basis. The first phase of implementation included the provision of education and training for staff, the appointment of a Consultant Paediatrician with special interest in Paediatric Palliative Medicine (Consultant PPPM), and the establishment of a national network of (initially) eight children’s outreach nurses based in key locations around Ireland. These priorities were put in place over the next three years under a partnership agreement between the HSE and the Irish Hospice Foundation. The Foundation agreed to provide almost 85% of the start-up costs on the understanding that the initiatives would become main-stream funded within three to five years.