The Neonatal Palliative Care Alliance is an informal network of stakeholders* committed ‘to accelerating understanding of and access to neonatal palliative care’ by strengthening collaboration, sharing expertise, and advocating for better care for babies and their families.
Convened by the True Colours Trust, the Alliance brings together organisations and experts from across the sector in response to the national focus on maternity and neonatal care and the absence of a dedicated national body focused specifically on neonatal palliative care.
The purpose of the Alliance is to:
- Promote understanding of neonatal palliative care across health, policy, and the wider sector
- Provide a forum for collaboration and shared learning between organisations and experts working in neonatal and palliative care
- Identify and advance shared priorities that can improve care, practice, and access to services
- Support advocacy and collective engagement with policy and system leaders to strengthen neonatal palliative care nationally.
The group first met in November 2025 and meets quarterly to support coordinated action and progress against agreed priorities, with the shared aim of improving care and support ‘for babies and their families facing an uncertain prognosis and outcome.’[1]
*List of Alliance Members (in alphabetical order):
- Cheryl Battersby - NIHR Clinician Scientist, Clinical Associate Professor Imperial College London; Hon Consultant Neonatologist Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
- Peter Bradley - Director of Services, Bliss
- Lucy Duncombe - National Neonatal Clinical Advisor on Workforce, Training and Education, NHS England
- Jo Ecclestone Ford - Strategic Lead, The True Colours Trust
- Ngozi Edi-Osagie - National Clinical Director Neonatal Care, NHS England; Consultant Neonatologist St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester
- Nicholas Embleton - Consultant Neonatologist, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust; Professor of Neonatal Medicine, Newcastle University
- Janet Flint - Strategic Lead, Clinical Education Programmes, NHS England
- Lorna Fraser - Professor of Palliative Care and Child Health, King’s College London
- Katie Gallagher - Clinical Associate Professor in Neonatal Nursing, University of Leicester; Chair, Neonatal Nurses Association
- Nadia Leake - Parent & PhD Candidate at Newcastle University
- Caroline Lee-Davey - CEO, Bliss
- Alex Mancini - Lead Nurse for the National Neonatal Palliative Care Programme, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust and CW+; Current Co-Chair of BAPM Working group exploring national implementation of the 2024 BAPM neonatal palliative care framework
- Christine Mott - Paediatric Palliative Medicine Consultant, Birmingham Women’s and Children’sNHS Foundation Trust; Medical Director Acorns Children’s Hospices; Co-Chair,Association for Paediatric Palliative Medicine (APPM)
- Edile Murdoch - Consultant Neonatologist, NHS Lothian; Clinical Lead, Maternity OutcomeSignal System programme NHS England.
- Laura Nohavicka - Paediatric PalliativeMedicine Consultant, Helen & Douglas House; Co-Chair APPM
- James Porter - Director, Major Programmes, CW+
- Lucy Sainsbury - Chair, The True Colours Trust
- Katie Tallowin - Head of Service and Impact, Together for Short Lives
- Vimal Vasu - Consultant Neonatologist, William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, Kent; Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Kent; Current Co-Chair of BAPM Working group exploring national implementation of the 2024 BAPM neonatal palliative care framework
- Louise Weaver-Lowe - National Neonatal Lead Nurse, NHS England
[1] Recognising uncertainty: an integrated framework for palliative care in perinatal medicine | British Association of Perinatal Medicine.
.jpg)
