Table 1.

Description of themes identified

Standalone theme 1: Communication during end-of-life care Care is affected by how and when health professionals communicate about end-of-life decisions with children and their families
Overarching theme 2: Getting end-of-life services and staff in the right place The coordination and delivery of paediatric end-of-life care can be inequitable because of challenges around services and staffing
Theme	Description of theme	Sub-themes
1. Access to, and staffing of end-of-life care	Paediatric end-of-life care is not always equitable because of the nature of palliative care, the way that services were developed historically, and because of staff shortages	a. Access to end-of-life care services b. Large areas, small numbers, high intensity c. Staff shortages and “goodwill” d. 24/7 advice lines and regional networks
2. Inconsistent and insufficient funding for end-of-life care services	Funding for paediatric end-of-life care services can be difficult to obtain. When it is available, it can be unreliable	a. Difficulties sourcing and maintaining sufficient funding b. Reliance on charitable organisations
Overarching theme 3: Linking up healthcare provision The challenges and successes that come from the requirement for end-of-life care to be coordinated and delivered across different services, organisations and locations
Theme	Description of theme
1. Coordination successes	Positives that result from formal and informal relationships between services
2. Role of the networks	Networks would be best placed to reduce equity in end-of-life care
3. Coordination challenges	Difficulties caused by having to work across organisational and administrative boundaries