Yes / Care after the death of a child and support of their bereaved family is an important element of the services offered by children’s hospices in the United Kingdom. The study aims to explore the emotional challenges of those delivering care to families of children in hospice cool rooms. An internet-based questionnaire was sent to all practitioners to explore their perspectives of providing care to bereaved families whilst the child’s body was in the hospice, as well as caring for a child’s body after death. In total, 94.9% (n=56) of staff responded. Two key themes were identified that represent the emotional challenges perceived by staff: the impact of deterioration of a child’s body; and witnessing the acute grief of families. Practitioners seek to provide care that recognises the importance of family and demonstrates family-centred care, as well as supporting families to deal with the changes that occur after death. Organisations can support practitioners to deliver care in cool rooms by providing training and education on anticipating and managing the pathophysiological changes that occur after death as well as training in grief and loss, and how to support a bereaved family. / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, May 2021.

Yes / Children’s hospices provide a range of services for babies, children and young people who have life-shortening conditions, including care after death in specialist ‘cool bedrooms’. Caring for children after death is a challenging area of hospice care, with variation seen within, and between organisations. The study aims to identify current practices and to produce guidelines that promote safe practice in moving and handling and managing physiological deterioration of children after death. An electronic questionnaire was sent to all 54 British children’s hospices; 33 responded (=62% of hospices). Variation in the way in which children’s hospices delivered care after death was identified, in terms of the length of stay, care provision and equipment used, owing to demands of individual families and the experience and confidence of practitioners. Internal variation in practice can lead to practitioner anxiety, and risk-taking when providing care, particularly in the presence of family members. Practice recommendations have been made that reflect the practical demands of caring for a child’s body after death; these have been split into two parts: moving and handling considerations and managing physiological deterioration. These recommendations should be used to support the development of policy and practice, allowing organisations to standardise staff expectations and to support practitioners when caring for children after death.