Paediatric Palliative Care: Positive Change and Communication Strategies

Dr Annabel Howell, from the Scottish Borders, is responsible for leading CHAS's medical services and works closely with the Director for Children and Families, Sue Hogg as well as other colleagues to deliver care.

Dr Howell has extensive experience working in palliative care, leading this for 14 years in NHS Borders until moving to CHAS. She is the Chair of the Scottish Paediatric End of Life Care Network (PELiCaN). During her career she has developed a passionate interest in transitions between children's and adult services for young people, and hospice at home services. She has also served as Associate Medical Director for acute services, clinical governance, and primary and community services in NHS Borders and was the Chair of the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care.

Annabel trained at the Royal Free Hospital in London. She went on to work in anaesthetics, adult intensive care and St Mary's paediatric intensive care, and spent short periods working in the children's hospitals in Edinburgh and Glasgow. She also completed her GP training and worked as a GP for a few years.

Dr Howell is a trustee and Vice Chair of the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation, working with her interests in sports, research and fundraising. She worked as a team doctor for the GB Rowing Team ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Serving as the Clinical Service Manager for the Children’s Community Nursing Service at Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Claire Williams leads a dedicated team of registered children’s nurses, health care support staff, and administrators. Together, they provide crucial care and support to children with acute, chronic, complex health, or palliative care needs.

Claire, alongside Sarah Glencrose, is in the process of establishing a Skills Lab after successfully securing funding from Kingston Hospital Charity’s Inspiration Fund. This initiative aims to meet the growing demand for comprehensive training in complex care delivery within the community.

Paul has worked at Birmingham Children’s Hospital since 2002 and has been the Senior Chaplain since 2004 managing our multi-faith team with specialisms in spiritual care with children, multi-faith bereavement care and staff support.

Paul is the chair of our Multi-Faith and Cultural Advisory group, the Multi-Disciplinary Spiritual Care Working Group and the Director of Red Balloon Resources which publishes in the fields of religious and spiritual care in relation to paediatric daily, palliative, end of life and bereavement care. He is also a member of the Chaplaincy Services Advisory Committee for the HealthCare Chaplaincy Network.

Finella Craig has served as a Consultant in Paediatric Palliative Medicine at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) since 2002. With a career in paediatrics dating back to 1989, she brings a wealth of experience to her role. Dr Craig is actively involved in The Child Death Helpline as a shift supervisor and is a Medical Practice Facilitator with Child Bereavement UK. Her training in palliative care includes extensive experience with both adult and paediatric palliative care services. 

Finellas research efforts have focused on enhancing palliative care services for children with non-malignant diseases and she has contributed to several national and international service and policy documents.

Helen qualified as an Occupational Therapist at University of East Anglia in 2000 and in 2016 gained an MA in Leadership and Service Innovation from the University of Suffolk.  She has worked at the Royal Free Hospital, Marie Curie Hospice, London, and Mildmay specialist HIV/AIDS hospice before joining St Elizabeth Hospice in 2007.

Helen has led the coproduction of Zest, a specialist young adult care and transition service at St Elizabeth Hospice, Suffolk, now recognised as a Centre of Excellence for young adult palliative care. She is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the University of Suffolk where teaches on the undergraduate nursing programmes on transition.

Helen completed a research fellowship in 2022 with the NIHR East of England Applied Research Collaborative, completing a service evaluation of an innovative residential short breaks for young adults with complex palliative care needs accessing the Zest service.  

Currently working in the role of Head of Inclusion and Development at St Elizabeth Hospice, alongside transition and young adult palliative care, specialist areas include health inequalities, co-production and inclusion.