Research for all
Our approach
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We will support research at our new Centre of Excellence, led by Professor Lorna Fraser within the Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation at King’s College London.
The Institute pioneers research into rehabilitation and palliative care, and was the world’s first purpose-built Institute for palliative care when it was founded in 2010. The centre is built on the legacy of Dame Cicily Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement.
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Our partnership with King's College London will ensure that children and their families are at the centre of important research opportunities at the Institute in the future, as we fund new research opportunities and avenues of study focussed specifically on paediatric palliative care.
Patient and public involvement (PPI) will be at the heart of the work undertaken at the centre, ensuring any policy impact or research outputs are undertaken with the input of children and parents with lived experience.
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Research Projects
Dr Bethan Page and Dr Dee Fields have begun work on two exciting new projects as part of the Centre of Excellence in Children's Palliative Care at King's College, London, which is funded by Kentown Support.
Together, these projects will help build an evidence base to improve the support and care available to children with life-limiting conditions and their families.
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Project 1: Improving Social Care Support
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This project aims to understand parents and professionals’ priorities and recommendations for improving social care support for children with life-limiting conditions.
The project will involve:
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Interviews with parents to capture experiences of accessing and receiving support from social care services and Local Authorities.
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Focus groups with professionals will gather recommendations for improving social care support
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Workshops with parents and professionals will identify and prioritise the most important changes needed to improve social care for children with life-limiting conditions, as well as highlight areas for future research.
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Project 2: Education and Training for Parent Carers
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This second project will explore education and training for parent carers. Parents of children with medical complexity often need to learn a wide range of specialist care skills—such as managing feeding tubes or tracheostomies. While some training programmes exist (for example, the Council for Disabled Children’s Expert Parent Programme and WellChild parent training), many parents report feeling underprepared and unsupported.
This project will build on Bethan’s previous PhD work to understand what additional education and training resources are needed. We will work with our parent advisory group to design a survey for parent carers which will help identify the gaps in support and inform the development of better, more consistent training to meet families’ needs.
Dr Bethan Page is a Lecturer in Child Health and Palliative Care
Dr Dee Fields is a Research Assistant working on the project.
There has been hardly any research in social care for children with life-limiting conditions and services are often not fit to meet the needs of children and families. Children with disabilities are entitled to social care support under UK law, but services are often inconsistent and not well adapted to children with life-limiting conditions. We are looking forward to working with parents and professionals to explore how we can improve support for children and families.
Dr Bethan Page
Lecturer in Child Health and Palliative Care
King's College, London
Studentships
Starting in Autumn 2025 two studentships within the Centre of Excellence were funded by Kentown Support, to support new and innovative research into paediatric palliative care.
Candidates were asked to submit their own topics of interest, but we also outlined our particular interest in supporting research focused on the community.
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Dr Helena Dunbar, CEO of Kentown Support, says:​​
"I am thrilled that Kentown Support is able to fund these PHD studentships as part of our new partnership with KCL. As a nurse I understand how difficult it is to access opportunities for further training and development. The funding and supervision from the team led by Professor Lorna Fraser that this studentship will offer will be invaluable."
This, we hope, is just the beginning of the research opportunities that Kentown Support will facilitate as our organisation grows and develops.
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Elvis Kama is a UK Registered Nurse and Health Economist with over a decade of experience commissioning complex care across the NHS and Local Authorities. His research, The Economics of Caring for Children with Life-Limiting Conditions, explores how housing adequacy—space, accessibility, and timely adaptations—affects family well-being and healthcare use. Using mixed methods, he links housing and health data and conducts interviews with families and professionals to develop practical recommendations that support safe home care and reduce avoidable hospital admissions.
Elvis plans to translate findings into clear guidance for commissioners and policymakers — including adaptation pathways and economic cases for timely home modifications — to improve equity and enable more families to choose care at home.
Juliet Noble is a Children’s Nurse with over ten years of experience in paediatric oncology, haematology, and palliative care. Following completion of her Master’s degree in Advanced Clinical Practice, she is delighted to join the Centre of Excellence in Children’s Palliative Care at King’s College London as a PhD Fellow.
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Juliet is passionate about advancing holistic, integrated care for children and families living with life-limiting conditions, having witnessed first-hand the difference it can make. Juliet’s research interests align closely with Kentown Support’s mission to ensure that every child and family can access the very best care, close to home. Her work seeks to examine how patients, families, and clinicians understand and experience the management of risk, and to evaluate the potential of assessment tools in supporting the safety of palliative care at home.
The Kentown Support PhD awards is an excellent opportunity to build research capacity within paediatric palliative care. Elvis and Juliet are focusing on topics that are really important to children and their families.”