Press Release
23 April 2026
The 7th All Island Children’s Palliative Care Conference (CPCC), which takes place biannually, will focus on a theme of “Stronger Together: Fostering Resilience and Diversity in Children’s Palliative Care,” reflecting the growing need to support both the children who are receiving palliative care and also, the health care professionals who provide this care every day.
Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who is to address the conference today said,
“Working collaboratively, we can all ensure that every child with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition receives the appropriate care that respects their dignity and autonomy.
“To achieve this, we must support the development of resilient healthcare services that recognise and respond to the diverse needs of patients, ensuring that timely access, their care and comfort is always at the core of our work,” she added.
The conference will explore how to build resilience at every level of care, across all life-limiting conditions, while also addressing inequality and challenges to access care, and how they influence experience and outcomes. Delegates will explore practical ways to build more responsive, inclusive services for children with life-limiting conditions and their families.
John Allen, Co-Chair, CPCC 2026 and Consultant in Paediatric Palliative Medicine, Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin and the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street said:
“We are pleased to welcome Minister Carroll MacNeill to our conference today and sincerely appreciate her support at such a critical time for children’s palliative care. This event provides an important platform to highlight the key challenges that must be addressed to improve outcomes for children and their families, while also recognising the importance of fostering resilience within services and embracing diversity in paediatric palliative care to ensure every child’s needs are met with compassion and equity. We look forward to the delivery of the new Children’s Palliative Care Policy, as committed to in the Programme for Government, and are hopeful it will meaningfully respond to these pressing needs,” Dr Allen said.
Professor Abby Rosenberg, Chief of Paediatric Palliative Care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital, an internationally renowned expert in resilience will deliver a keynote on “The Science and the Art of Resilience: 5 Lessons from Patients, Communities, and Society.”
“Palliative care is specialized healthcare focused on minimizing the symptoms and stressors of serious illness. Resilience is the process of navigating adversity. Both are about helping people through hard things. Combining them from the outset into holistic approaches to healthcare delivery and practice can significantly improve patient, family, and clinician experiences.”
“We apply these principles every time we meet a new patient or family. For example, we begin by asking parents to “tell us about your child as a person,” and we end by taking a “resilience inventory” that explores a family’s sources of strength and meaning. Together, we are able to recognize the whole child, amplify what matters to them, and support their ability to thrive,” Prof Rosenberg said.
Professor Jonathan Koffman, Director of the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre at Hull York Medical School, will explore the issue of diversity through a focus on ethnic inequalities in palliative care and research. His work highlights how factors such as culture, service design and structural disadvantage can shape people’s experiences at end of life. His session will encourage delegates to reflect on how services can better respond to the needs of diverse populations, with an emphasis on cultural awareness and more equitable models of care.
“We know that children and families from minority ethnic backgrounds often experience palliative care differently, and not always equitably. These differences are rarely intentional, but can arise from the way services are designed, how communication takes place, and how assumptions are made in clinical care. Addressing inadvertent racism requires us to look critically at our own practices and systems, and to work towards more culturally responsive models of care that truly meet the needs of all families,” Prof Koffmann said.
Together, these perspectives reflect the broad aim of the conference: to share learning and hear developments across the island of Ireland and beyond. The conference will also hear updates from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland with presentations from Dr Feargal Twomey, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Milford Hospice & HSE Mid West, Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor, UL School of Medicine, Clinical Lead, National Clinical Programme for Palliative Care, HSE/RCPI and Dr David Graham, Consultant Paediatrician, Northern Ireland Regional Paediatric Palliative Care Network.
The conference will be attended by clinicians, researchers and advocates offering an opportunity to share knowledge, build connections and strengthen the delivery of children’s palliative care across the island.
ENDS
For more information and to arrange interviews with speakers, contact Yvonne McCahill, Communications Manager, the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care. Email: ymccahill@aiihpc.org Tel: 087-0947148.
To view the full agenda, visit: Agenda — 7th All Island Children’s Palliative Care Conference.
Prof Abby Rosenberg-Bio
Abby R. Rosenberg, MD, MS, MA is the Chief of Pediatric Palliative Care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital, and Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. She received her Medical Doctorate at Stanford University School of Medicine, and completed her Pediatric clinical training at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington. She also holds advanced degrees in epidemiology and biomedical ethics. Dr. Rosenberg’s research focuses on developing and implementing programs to enhance resilience and improve quality of life among young people with serious illnesses and their families. She has published over 275 peer-reviewed manuscripts on pediatric and adolescent/young adult palliative care and spoken at over 100 venues worldwide. Dr. Rosenberg has received numerous honours, including awards in Faculty Mentoring, Lifetime Achievement, and Groundbreaking research, policy, and advocacy that has changed the course of child health in the US. She is recognized as one of the leading pediatric researchers in the US, with memberships in the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the American Pediatric Society.
Here, she will provide 2 platform presentations: one, describing the lessons she has learned about resilience from patients, families, and communities; and, two, describing how to navigate tough conversations with adolescent and young adult patients. She will also conduct her award-winning “resilience workshop” for those who are interested in learning practical skills for their own well-being.
Prof Jonathan Koffmann-Biography
Professor Jonathan Koffman is a social scientist and palliative care researcher specialising in health inequalities, end-of-life care, and culturally responsive services. His work examines how ethnicity, deprivation, and structural disadvantage shape experiences of advanced illness, including access to hospice care, pain management, and bereavement support. Drawing on population-level data, qualitative research, and co-design with communities, he has challenged deficit models that frame inequity as a problem of awareness or culture, and instead locates responsibility within health and care systems. In this presentation, Professor Koffman explores how privilege, racism, and service design influence who benefits from palliative care. He introduces concepts of cultural humility and cultural safety, alongside asset-based and community-centred approaches, as practical responses to inequity. The talk argues for a shift from viewing palliative care as a privilege to recognising it as a human right delivered through just, accountable, and culturally safe systems.