About us
Our Vision
Our vision is that every child with a life-limiting condition, and their family, has access to a model of integrated community children’s palliative care, no matter where in the UK they live.
Too often, children with life-limiting conditions can’t get all the care and support they need in the community they live in. Gaps and variations in services around the UK mean families often struggle to navigate complex systems, at a time when they should be fully supported to focus on their child’s care.
We believe that every family caring for a child with a life-limiting condition –- including those from underrepresented groups –- should receive the right care and support, whenever and wherever they need it.
Kentown Support shares research, education and training resources to enable healthcare professionals to deliver coordinated care in their communities. We work to equip teams with the right assets and expertise to confidently provide support to children and their families.
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Our Journey
​The Kentown Wizard Foundation has supported children’s palliative care since 2015. In 2022, the Foundation joined forces with Together for Short Lives and The Rainbow Trust to launch the Kentown programme. Initially, our focus was to help transform children’s community palliative care provision in Lancashire and South Cumbria.
More than 200 families were referred onto the programme for active palliative care support with a number of children supported through end of life.
To continue this vital work, and extend it across the UK, in 2025 the Foundation set up and funded Kentown Support as an independent not-for-profit organisation.
Dr Helena Dunbar, who was Programme Director for the pilot, accepted the opportunity to lead the development of this new organisation. As Chief Executive of Kentown Support, she is shaping the charity’s ambitious plans.
As well as rolling out the Kentown model across the UK, Kentown Support will continue to invest in education and research throughout 2025.
We are funding the first Centre of Excellence for paediatric care at King’s College London, which will lead research, education and training both nationally and internationally.
We have also announced two bursaries to fund PhD research into paediatric palliative care.
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