Together For Short Lives

Together for Short Lives is the leading UK charity for all children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions and all those who support, love and care for them. We support families, professionals and services, including children’s hospices. Our work helps to ensure that children can get the best possible care, wherever and whenever they need it.

From the moment of diagnosis, for whatever life holds, we help to ensure that families make the most of their precious time together.

There are an estimated 49,000 children and young people in the UK living with a life-threatening or life-limiting condition that may require palliative care services. We are there for every single one of these children, and their families, so they know where to go for help and are aware of the support available to them. With the right kind of information, it can become easier to access care and support, as well as practical and emotional help for the whole family when it’s needed most. We help families get this information so they know what to expect at different stages throughout their journey.

We also work closely with the organisations and professionals that provide an important lifeline to children and families. We raise funds for children’s hospices and a range of other voluntary organisations to enable them to sustain the vital work they do. We offer resources and training to help them maintain consistent, high quality care from the moment a child is diagnosed, until their eventual death, and to continue supporting families for as long as they need it.

Our work also involves campaigning for equal coverage of specialised services for children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions and families across the UK; and better co-ordination of health, social care and education. By working nationally we give a powerful voice to children, families and the organisations that support them, ensuring their views are heard by the government and that they influence policy.

To realise our vision we have developed four strategic objectives to guide our work over the next three years. Our strategy is designed to lead change to make life better for every child and young person with a life-threatening or life-limiting condition. These children and families are at the heart of everything we do.

We want every child and their family to have:

-       The right information from the moment of diagnosis so they can make choices about the care they receive

-       Easy access to services so that they can spend more time together

-       The best quality care