The children’s palliative care charity ACT has developed a new good practice tool to help professionals plan and prepare when they are caring for a child or young person in the last hours and days of their life. ACT recognises that professionals who provide care and support for life-limited children often have little time to prepare when a child reaches their end of life suddenly or unexpectedly.  ACT’s new Prompts for care in the last days of a child’s life have been designed as short checklist to help professionals think about the key things to plan, consider and discuss with the family and child to help them have the best possible end of life. ACT’s Prompts for care in the last days of a child’s life includes a range of actions, issues and discussion points that cover the management of pain and other symptoms, treatment reviews and the provision of psychological, social, spiritual and practical support for the child, siblings and family.  These include:
·         Reassessing the child’s current medication. If appropriate consider discontinuing any ‘non-essential’ medication.
·         Practicing good symptom management - anticipate and prescribe for a range of possible symptoms such as pain, agitation and nausea.
·         Ensuring that the child’s and family’s wishes and views are incorporated into an end of life care plan.
·         Taking time to talk to the family about their plans for after death care including information about who to call, what needs to be done immediately after their child’s death and what can wait?
 
Further information is available at: www.act.org.uk/prompts