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Pictured Above: James Sunderland, Bracknell MP, Jane Gates OBE, CEO of Sebastian’s Action Trust, Adam Afriyie – Windsor MP, Mark Courage, Sebastian’s Action Trust Chair of Trustees
Sebastian’s Action Trust launches its Plugging the Gaps report at the House of Commons | Sebastian’s Action Trust hosted a reception at the Houses of Commons on Wednesday (Jan 22nd) for the launch of its independently commissioned report that highlights the critical role of social palliative care in supporting families in need.
Sebastian’s Action Trust is a Berkshire charity that provides emotional, social and practical support to more than 600 families whose children have life-limiting or life-threatening conditions or who have sadly died.
The Trust commissioned Dr Katrin Bain, an academic at Royal Holloway, University of London, to evaluate the range of bespoke services it offers to families with the aim of demonstrating how, in many situations, these services compliment and redress the gaps in NHS provision and palliative care.
The Trust’s report; ‘Plugging the Gaps – the critical role of social palliative care in supporting families in need’ concludes that ‘from a human and social standpoint, the benefits for families who are supported by Sebastian’s Action Trust goes far beyond any cost savings to health and social care.’
Trust interventions create significant savings for the health and social care system of at least £1.6million per year.
Sebastian’s Action Trust complement existing medical services by offering a unique social palliative care package for children and young people, offering respite care along with outreach and specialist support. The Trust does not receive a penny of statutory, NHS or local authority funding yet the services it provides enables families with seriously-ill children to cope more effectively with a reduced likelihood of families finding themselves in crisis situations.
Adam Afriyie, Windsor MP and Sebastian’s Action Trust charity Patron hosted the parliamentary reception which took place in the House of Common’s Churchill Room.
Jane Gates OBE, Sebastian’s Action Trust CEO, appealed to members of parliament during her speech to join her in seeking a review of the Government’s commitment to social palliative care and to recognise the place of social care to families of life-limited children as an essential, rather than desirable service and to commit to find funding streams that will support its delivery.
Jane Gates, who is also the mother of our charity’s founder, Sebastian Gates, said: “Our Plugging the Gaps report highlights the impact of our work and the tremendous value of our social palliative care model. It explains, however, that because of resource and funding constraints, many of the services we provide are limited to families living in a defined geographical area. This contributes to the creation of a post code lottery in social palliative care, whereby some families in the UK are left with little or no support.
“Our high quality services can only be maintained through sustainable and consistent income streams. There is a clear funding gap for social palliative care and increased statutory funding would help secure more comprehensive, sustainable and equitable delivery of these vital services.”
The full ‘Plugging the Gaps – the critical role of social palliative care in supporting families in need’ report is available at. www.sebastiansactiontrust.org
Sebastian’s Action Trust. Here for families of seriously-ill children. Always.
