Dr Helena Dunbar

Children’s community palliative care provision remains highly variable across the UK, often determined by postcode rather than need. For many babies, children and young people, with life-limiting conditions, accessing community-based palliative care or dying at home isn't an option.

These inequalities are particularly evident in areas of high deprivation and amongst some minority ethnic communities where the prevalence of life-limiting conditions is greater.

Dr Helena Dunbar recognised meaningful system change required a different approach: bringing together statutory and voluntary sector expertise, breaking down organisational barriers and creating integrated community teams delivering a responsive, family-centred community palliative care offer through a single referral pathway.

The result is Kentown Support.

The foundations were laid in 2022 when The Kentown Wizard Foundation funded a three-year pilot programme in Lancashire and South Cumbria led by Helena. Supporting more than 300 families, the programme demonstrated how coordinated community-based children’s palliative care could transform outcomes. An independent evaluation by Edge Hill University confirmed the model’s effectiveness and potential for expansion across the UK.

Determined to build on this success, Helena founded Kentown Support as an independent charity in 2025. Demonstrating remarkable determination and vision, she took the organisation from Charity Commission application to registration in just nine days. She identified areas of greatest need, developed an evidence-based model, and built the team to deliver it.

Helena deserves to win because she's turned belief into a reality, putting children and families at the heart of everything she does. She is creating impact; system change and shifting perspectives.