Cheshire and Merseyshire ICB

NHS Cheshire & Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB) has begun to adopt the NHS England document ‘Specialist Palliative and End of Life Care Services: Children and Young People Service Specification’. It has also implemented its own locally developed specifications, including the Children’s Emergency Respite Service Specification and the Claire House Children’s Hospice Rapid Response Service Specification. This was done via a consolidated contract across the nine Cheshire & Merseyside Places.

The clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) across Cheshire & Merseyside self-assessed their performance against the Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care between 2016 and 2018, using the information to develop local improvement plans.

Following the transition to ICBs in July 2022, local place-based partnerships are now operating in Cheshire & Merseyside. The partnerships will revisit and repeat the self- assessment as required.

Cheshire & Merseyside Public Health Collaborative (CHAMPS) has also been commissioned to undertake a population-based needs assessment for end-of-life care across the ICB footprint.

The Cheshire & Merseyside ICS Palliative & End of Life Care Programme Delivery Plan 2022-23, which aligns to NHSE’s statutory guidance to help ICBs meet their legal duty to commission palliative and end of life care, is used as a reference point for service development.

The Claire House consolidated contract (nine Cheshire & Merseyside ICB Places) specifies the delivery of services which meet the NICE Quality standard [QS160] End of Life Care for Infants, Children and Young People. It also specifies that infants, children and young people with a life-limiting condition and their families should have access to regular short breaks for respite.