Cardiff hosts international conference on paediatric palliative care

Cardiff University has hosted the 7th International Cardiff Conference on Paediatric Palliative Care, with the theme “Medicine and Compassion: Tool for the Task Or Dangerous Distraction?”

The conference raised some fundamental questions: In our compassionate efforts to spare children from unnecessary and uncomfortable medical interventions, are we failing to notice therapeutic advances that could bring better control of symptoms, or even the hope of a cure? Are compassion and medicine two fundamentally different principles that always inevitably conflict?

149 delegates from 19 countries explored these questions and invited participants to reflect on the concepts of care, cure, futility and compassionate care in their work with children. The conference also showcased posters from around the world.

Professor Daniel Kelly co-organised the event and chaired a session that addressed some challenging areas in paediatric palliative care such as the provision of children’s palliative care in the developing world (Professor Julia Downing, International Children’s Palliative Care Network), self-requested euthanasia in minors (Marie Friedel, Institut Parnass-Isei, Haute Ecole Vinci, Brussels) and personalized medicine through genomic screening (Dr Dermot Murphy, The Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, UK).

The conference was a great success with delegates commenting on high quality sessions, new research and international networking opportunities. Further information can be found on the ICPCN website. The next Cardiff Conference will take place in 2017.