Failures in Palliative Care for Children

Holly Smallman has a series of complex life-limiting conditions. Yet the 16-year-old is among thousands of babies, children and young people who are likely to die young but can't access the care and support they need, according to a report by the All-Parliamentary Group for Children Who Need Palliative Care. They say the Government is failing in its end of life care choice commitment to provide adequate support which represents ‘a wholly unjustified health inequality. Holly's mum Hayley tells 5 Live Investigates: “I’m beyond exhausted. We have to do critical care for Holly out-of-hours ourselves or take her to hospital. After 5pm and at the weekends it’s very frightening”