I believe that care for children with life-shortening conditions is an important priority for the SNP to foster.
Scotland is already widely recognised for providing high-quality palliative and end of life care. Therefore, if re-elected, the SNP will ensure children with palliative care needs receive the highest quality care, equally across Scotland, underpinned by annual public funding of at least £7 million to ensure children’s hospice care is sustainably resourced.
We will appoint a new National Clinical Lead for Palliative and End of Life Care for Scotland, who will be responsible for overseeing a national strategy for palliative and end of life care that takes a whole system, public health approach.
In Government, the SNP has been providing financial support for families, including through the game-changing Scottish Child Payment, which together with Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods will provide over £5,200 of financial support for families by the time their first child turns six.
Additionally, the SNP committed to increase the Scottish Child Payment from £10 per week for each eligible child to £20 per week over the course of the next term.
The Funeral Support Payment paid £11.3 million to support bereaved families, with over 7,400 applications authorised between 16 September 2019 and 31 December 2020. The current average Funeral Support Payment is around £1,778 – this is up from £1,505 in the previous financial year.
Fiona Hyslop