Our Publications

Unwavering Care: Our Strategic Plan 2024-2028

Our ambition is that no-one should face the death of their child alone. Three children a week die in Scotland from an incurable condition. Our strategic plan is inspired by them. Their time is precious, so our strategic plan sets out how we will provide unwavering care to children who may die young and their families, at every step on this hardest of journeys.

Unwavering Care: Our Strategic Plan 2024-2028 (PDF, 7.09MB)

Annual Report and Accounts 2023-2024

The Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024.

Download the Annual Report (PDF, 6.5MB)

Impact Report 2024

The joy you bring to children and families.

Impact Report (PDF, 8MB)

Economic Evaluation of CHAS Services

An evaluation carried out by the York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC) has shown that for every £1 of statutory funding, CHAS' experienced staff, generous supporters and dedicated volunteers generate £6.24 of public value in return.

Download the YHEC report executive summary (PDF, 202KB)

Download the full YHEC report (PDF, 975KB)

CHAS UK General Election 2024 Manifesto

Ahead of the 2024 UK General Election, CHAS has published a manifesto setting out key priorities for all parties and candidates, to help ensure that all seriously ill children and their families receive unwavering care, at every step on this hardest of journeys.

Download CHAS GE24 Manifesto (PDF, 154Kb)

CHAS Manifesto

Ahead of the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, CHAS has published a manifesto - Time is Precious, Time to Act. Informed by the views of children and families, the manifesto sets out a range of actions the Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament, and other key stakeholders should take to improve the lives of children with life-shortening conditions in Scotland.

Download the CHAS Manifesto. (PDF, 6.3MB)

Virtual Hospice Impact Report 2021

In March 2020 CHAS launched the world's first virtual children's hospice to support children with life-shortening conditions and their families during the coronavirus crisis, and beyond. This report highlights the impact that this service has had across the country and how it has acted as a ‘lifeline’ for so many during what has been an incredibly tough time.

Virtual Hospice Impact Report. (PDF, 2.53MB)

Children in Scotland requiring Palliative Care (ChiSP) 3

The number of babies, children and young people with life-shortening conditions in Scotland is going up. There are over 16,700 children aged 0-21 who are likely to die young. Although many of these children are stable at present, and some may make a complete recovery from illness, nearly 6,000 have been in hospital recently. About three children die from a life-shortening condition every week in Scotland. At Children's Hospices Across Scotland - better known as CHAS - we support families through the terrifying heartbreak of knowing their child may die young. Having access to the most reliable data is crucial to doing that effectively. It gives the insight needed to ensure that all children with life-shortening conditions and their families receive the right level of clinical, emotional and practical support - at diagnosis, times of crisis, end of life, and in bereavement.

This latest report, Children in Scotland Requiring Palliative Care 3 (ChiSP3), was commissioned by CHAS and delivered by Public Health Scotland. It updates two previous studies commissioned by CHAS to show the demographics and phase of illness of children across Scotland with life-shortening conditions. The report confirms that the number of children in Scotland living with a life-shortening condition is continuing to increase, and that prevalence is increasing across most areas in Scotland.

You can download the ChiSP 3 report here. (PDF, 9.65MB)

A realist evaluation of the Care 24 Lothian service - Summary Report

Care24 is a bespoke model of care that allows families in Lothian, facing the unimaginable pain of their child’s death, to choose to have end of life care in their home if that is their wish; safe in the knowledge that they have access to specialist nursing support 24/7. The service was created in partnership with NHS Lothian, and in order to measure its success, Edinburgh Napier University and Edge Hill University were commissioned to undertake an evaluation report.

Download the Care 24 Evaluation Summary Report. (PDF, 782kb)

Enhancing neonatal care and family support in Scotland: a collaborative approach

CHAS has been working with colleagues at NHS Lothian since 2014 to enhance the neonatal palliative care and the support that families receive at the Simpson's Centre for Reproductive Health in Edinburgh. A new report on this collaborative approach demonstrates that families and staff truly value the very specialised support that CHAS can offer.

You can download the report here. (PDF, 2.65MB)

CHAS People Strategy

We care about what our people care about. It was important in the creation of this strategy that we listened to what matters most to our employees and volunteers. The priorities outlined in this strategy are those priorities identified through the 2022 staff and volunteer engagement surveys and through extensive consultation with our staff at the beginning of 2023.

This strategy sets out a bold approach as to how we will evolve to meet the needs and expectations of the best people in Scotland who can help us achieve our aims. In the way we attract, recruit, develop and retain the very best talent, we need to offer a progressive culture and employment and volunteering packages that are attractive and competitive.

Read the full People Strategy 2023-2028 (PDF, 6.25MB)

Volunteering Strategy 2024 - 2027

As our services have evolved since the inception of the last CHAS Volunteering Strategy, so has our volunteer landscape. The introduction of a new Volunteering Strategy marks our organisational commitment to reintegrating volunteers as an essential part of CHAS. Providing a quality volunteer experience is everyone’s business in CHAS. We must all work hard every day to make CHAS a great place to volunteer. This strategy has been co-created by volunteers and aims to harness the strength of volunteering and align it with our organisational ambition, fostering a renewed sense of community and purpose.

Download the full strategy document (PDF, 1.32MB)

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy

Ensuring that CHAS is an equal, diverse, and inclusive organisation will support our staff, volunteers, supporters and families to experience the best from CHAS.

In delivering our high-quality work, CHAS is determined to create places and services where there is equality amongst people, where diversity is championed, and where inclusion is a central part of what we do. We want our employees and volunteers to be confident and empowered, and we are committed to eliminating barriers which do or might prevent people from accessing our services.

Read how we are making this happen in our ED&I Strategy (PDF, 887MB).

Scoping exercise to inform the development of an education strategy for Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS)

CHAS recognises that the scale of need for our services across Scotland is immense. Our ambition is that every family in Scotland who is living with the heart breaking knowledge that their child is dying, will be supported, cared for and helped to make the most of that precious time.

From the 2015 ChiSP Study we know that children’s palliative care continues to grow as a speciality in Scotland with sustained increases in the prevalence and complexity of life-shortening conditions. Education is therefore an integral component of children’s palliative care to ensure the workforce is capable, confident and equipped with the required knowledge and skills to deliver high quality and effective care that makes a real difference to children and families during the toughest of times.

The scoping exercise, carried out by School of Health and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University and led by Dr Cari Malcolm and Debbie McGirr, examined current evidence relating to the provision of education across the United Kingdom (UK) and internationally to inform the development of an evidence based and research-informed education strategy for Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS).

The scoping exercise confirmed that education, learning and continuing professional development are integral to high-quality palliative care. It demonstrated that there is a commitment to and enthusiasm for further enhancing education in the field. Whilst there are examples of innovative and effective learning and development initiatives across Scotland, there is a need to ensure a more cohesive and standardised approach to education. The evidence from this scoping project has been used to shape a set of recommendations which will inform the development of an education strategy for CHAS and influence the delivery of a national approach to education in children’s palliative care.

Download the Education Scoping Report (PDF, 1.17MB)

Download the Education Scoping Report Summary (PDF, 583KB)

Duty of Candour Report 2023/24

All health and social care services in Scotland have a duty of candour. This is a legal requirement which means that if things go wrong and mistakes happen, the people affected understand what has happened, receive an apology, and that organisations learn how to improve for the future.

An important part of this duty is that we provide an annual report about the duty of candour in our services. This short report describes how CHAS has operated the duty of candour during the time between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024. We hope you find this report useful.

Download the Duty of Candour Report 2023/24 (PDF, 70KB)

An Evaluation of the Diana Children's Nurse Service Report

We are proud to announce that an independent report by Children in Scotland has recognised that we are improving delivery of, and access to, palliative care through our work in hospitals and communities. They also recommend that our approach should be extended across Scotland.

Download the Evaluation of the Diana Children's Nurse Service Report (PDF, 1.55MB)

Children in Scotland requiring Palliative Care: identifying numbers and needs (The ChiSP Study)

This report sets out the findings from an investigation into the numbers of children and young people with life-shortening conditions in Scotland, and what current evidence tells us about their, and their families’, psychosocial support needs.

Download ChiSP Study (PDF, 953KB)

Inspection reports

Healthcare Improvement Scotland

Both our hospices are regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), which inspects healthcare services to ensure that they comply with standards and regulations. They check all independent healthcare services regularly, using announced and unannounced inspections. During the inspections HIS speak to children and their families and clinical and support staff.

You can download reports in full below from the HIS website:

Care Inspectorate

Our CHAS at Home service is regulated by the Care Inspectorate.

You can access all reports on the CI Website:

CHAS at Home Inspection Reports

CHAS Gender Pay Report

Following the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017, UK companies with over 250 employees must, in usual circumstances, publish their gender pay gap data within one year of their 'snapshot date'.

The gender pay gap is defined as the difference in the average earnings of men and women, expressed relative to men’s earnings. The calculations include all of our 'full-pay relevant employees', regardless of contractual status (permanent, temporary or self-employed), contractual hours or seniority. Where colleagues receive reduced pay during a period of statutory leave, such as long-term sick leave or maternity leave, they are excluded from the calculations as per gender pay gap reporting requirements.

This year’s ‘snapshot date’ for CHAS was 5 April 2023.

Our 2023 report provides information on the mean and median salary pay gap, with further analysis by pay quartile.

There is no gender pay analysis on bonus pay as CHAS does not pay any form of bonuses.

CHAS Gender Pay Report 2023 (PDF, 1.09MB)

CHAS Gender Pay Report 2022 (PDF, 157KB)

CHAS Gender Pay Report 2021 (PDF, 267KB)

CHAS Gender Pay Report 2020 (PDF, 154KB)

Publications and Reports