Rebecca attended the launch of ‘WellChild’s Manifesto for Change’, a report which sets out the changes needed to improve the care given to thousands of children and young people with a serious illness or complex care needs and their families.

The Manifesto was put together by the national charity WellChild following a lengthy consultation with the families the charity supports and the professionals it works with. It presents a challenge to decision makers to ensure services improve for all families who are caring for children and young people with serious illnesses or complex care needs, whoever they are and wherever they live in the UK.

There are at least 100,000 children and young people in the UK living with serious illnesses or complex care needs. But sadly many of the families caring for these children and young people need more support than is often available. WellChild’s Manifesto for Change sets out the priorities that need to be addressed by the next Government, specifically:

1. Better hospital care at the point of admission and diagnosis  (or in many cases re-admission);
2  A far more planned, consistent  and integrated approach to ensure families are better supported in their journey home from hospital;
3.  And finally, better access to a flexible, tailored range of high quality care and practical support to enable families to be fully equipped to care for their child at home.

At the event Rebecca met with families caring for a child with complex care needs as well as a selection of WellChild Children’s Nurses who support them. Rebecca said: “I am very proud to support this cause. I believe it is vital to provide consistent and high quality support to those families caring for sick children at home.”

Speaking at the event, Colin Dyer, WellChild’s Chief Executive said: “The issues we raise in our Manifesto – such as better access to training and information to give parents the confidence to care for their child at home; support to enable families to navigate the complicated health, education and social care maze – are issues that have been talked about by families time and time again. I hope that that the next Government will start to listen and will work together with the voluntary and healthcare sectors to finally crack these issues to ensure that more families are getting the support they need to enable them to care for their child or young person at home.”