Paediatric Palliative Care

Course Overview

Practitioners taking this module will be working with children and young people receiving palliative care and wish to expand their knowledge and understanding in this area. After completing this module, they will be able to evaluate local policies and reflect on patient encounters to consider application of the content learned via local education or change to practice. This will lead to highly knowledgeable practitioners offering effective interventions and support derived from evidence-based practice. 

This module can be taken as standalone Continuing Professional Development (CPD), or as part of a Master’s of Science (MSc), Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip), Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) or Graduate Certificate (GradCert) in Paediatrics & Child Healthcare Practice. See our MSc Paediatrics & Child Healthcare Practice page for more information about these programmes. If you wish to discuss how this module could fit into one of our programmes, please contact academic.programmes@gosh.nhs.uk.

Learners interested in completing a Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert) or Graduate Certificate (GradCert) in Paediatrics & Child Healthcare Practice in Oncology would be advised to complete this module and the following modules:

• Caring for Children and Young People with Cancer
• Caring for Children and Young People undergoing Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant
• Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) in Children and Young People

To be awarded the Graduate Certificate, learners must complete all 4 modules at Level 6. To be awarded the Postgraduate Certificate, learners must complete all 4 modules at Level 7.
Learners considering a programme will need to attend a pre-entry meeting with the programme leader to review the requirements and expectations of the programme. To set up a programme planning meeting please contact the Academic Programmes Team at the GOSH Learning Academy: academic.programmes@gosh.nhs.uk. 

Teaching

Active learning will allow practitioners to learn via collaboration, cooperation, and peer-based learning. Activities may include interactive lectures, clinical skills demonstration and supervised practice, small group activities, case-based discussions, workshops, practice simulations and tutorials.

Synchronous and asynchronous learning and teaching activities are delivered via a combination of study days and digital strategies at local sites or online using the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

Assessment

The formative assessment will require learners to reflect on a patient encounter and share with the wider group for peer review.

The summative assessment will require learners to prepare a palliative care education plan for their area of practice and present it via a viva voce.

Teaching dates

Teaching will take place over a whole day. Face-to-Face teaching will take place either on or around the Great Ormond Street Hospital campus or at the Middlesex University West Stand at StoneX stadium. One of the Face-to-Face days will be an outreach day at a London-based Children’s Hospice. Exact locations for teaching days will be advised closer to the start date.

Learners are only expected to attend one of the available assessment dates.

Entry requirements

To undertake this module, you must have a registration with your relevant registered body and be working for at least six months in a setting where palliative care is encountered.

Fees and funding

The fees refer to the 2025/26 academic year unless otherwise stated. 

Part-time learners: £67 per credit* 

*Course fees are subject to annual inflation so the total costs for part time study are shown here as a guide.

How to apply

Applications will close two weeks before the module start date but may close early due to demand. It is highly recommended that candidates submit their application as early as possible. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that they have arranged the necessary study leave to attend the module.

Make your application

Candidates whose fees are being paid by their organisation will need to obtain a purchase order from their organisation and upload this as part of the application. You will not be able to save your application form once you begin, so please have the purchase order ready. If you are unable to obtain a purchase order prior to the application deadline, candidates can upload a sponsor letter. You may wish to use this template: this template.

Information for Sponsor Organisations
When raising a purchase order for module fees, the supplier is Middlesex University. If Middlesex University is not set up as a supplier on your procurement system, then contact CPDFinance@mdx.ac.uk to obtain the required information for set-up.

If you have any questions about how to pay the module fees, please contact CPDFinance@mdx.ac.uk. 

If you have any questions about the module, please contact academic.programmes@gosh.nhs.uk.