Greater Manchester
Background
Kentown team
Across Greater Manchester, the aim of Kentown Support is to work with partners and stakeholders towards the development of a 24/7 community-based Palliative and End of Life Care service for babies, children and young people.
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Our community focused programme in Greater Manchester brings together four key elements that work hand in hand:
Nursing Support, Family Support, Service Coordination and Therapeutic Counselling, working across all ten regions of Greater Manchester.
By linking to and collaborating with professionals, other organisations and Integrated Care Boards, we ensure our model provides children and their families with the right care at the right time in their own home. We work closely with local community teams and organisations, alongside specialist palliative care services, hospices, and health and social care providers. These strong partnerships help make sure your child receives the right care, whenever and wherever it’s needed. Even though different organisations may be involved in delivering the Kentown model, they all work together as one Kentown Support team, giving your family consistency, clear communication, and a sense of reassurance every step of the way.​​​​​
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While the Kentown Support programme adds nursing provision in six areas, the Kentown offer is available across all ten.
Our Team
The clinical lead for the Kentown Support Greater Manchester programme is Anna Oddy.
Anna is an Advance Nurse for children with complex and palliative care needs within the Northern Care Alliance Trust. She has over 20 years’ experience in delivering complex and palliative care to babies, children and young people and supporting their families and is also the co-chair of the Greater Manchester palliative care network.
As the Kentown Children’s Palliative Care Community Nursing Clinical Lead, Anna will play a pivotal role providing clinical leadership, ensuring co-operation and cohesion between the Kentown nursing team, our partner organisations, commissioners, specialist palliative care tertiary team and hospices.
Our Model
The Benefits
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Equal community palliative care provision across Greater Manchester
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​Fewer unplanned hospital admissions
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Specialist staff to support the child throughout their journey between home, hospital, community and hospice
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A designated children's palliative care Family Care Community Co-ordinator will be offered to families to help signpost to access support and other services​
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Fewer children will need to be admitted to hospital at the end of their life and families will be able to choose their preferred place of care
The Health Economic Evaluation
Economic Evaluation of the Kentown Support Service for children with life-limiting conditions in Greater Manchester.
Professor Lorna Fraser, Dr Peter May, Dr Bethan Page, Dr Diana Fields, Lucy King
This study will evaluate how the new community care model affects families’ quality of life, household costs, unplanned healthcare use, and overall system costs. All families receiving support through the Kentown Support programme in Greater Manchester will be invited to take part.
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How will this work?
Parents and children where appropriate, will be asked to complete a questionnaire about family finances, quality of life, and their use of health and social care services. The study will also review routinely collected data from GP practices and hospitals to understand whether the Kentown Support service has helped reduce emergency hospital visits for children.
The findings will support service providers and funders to make informed decisions about how best to care for children with life-limiting conditions and their families in the future.
The original Kentown programme was funded by the Kentown Wizard Foundation.
It brought together experts in the field of children’s palliative care from a number of key partners.​