Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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15. To ask the Minister for Health if he plans to develop a new national policy on palliative care for children with life-limiting conditions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38831/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Health’s 2010 Children’s Palliative Care Policy guides provision of palliative care services for children and their families in Ireland. Services are provided using a multiagency approach - including adult specialist palliative care services.

The new National Adult Palliative Care Policy contains a suite of recommendations that relate to children’s palliative care. These include implementing the 2020 ‘Bee Wee Report’ recommendations for supporting a model of care for children with life-limiting conditions, towards the end of their life, in the community.

Recurring core statutory funding for Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice was secured for the first time in Budget 2021. This funding has been used to provide a sustainable financial base to the organisation, and to increase their ‘Hospice in the Home’ service across Leinster, Munster and Connacht.

The Department of Health and the HSE are both project sponsors of work currently underway in Trinity College Dublin called ‘Enhancing Children’s Palliative Care in Ireland’. This research will greatly increase our understanding of the needs of children who require palliative care and assist with national service planning. Laura Lynn have also initiated a national needs analysis of children’s hospice beds.

Findings from both these studies will inform evidenced based policy decisions in considering the development of a new national children’s palliative policy.