Health experts recommed asking terminally-ill children if they have bucket lists

Children and young people with terminal and life-limiting illnesses should be asked whether they have a bucket-list they wish to complete.

Care plans for sick children should take into account their "life ambitions and wishes", health officials believe.

It may be appropriate to ask youngsters what they want to do with social media accounts, such as Facebook or Twitter pages, before they die, experts said.

The recommendations come as part of new guidance on end-of-life care for young people from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

Experts recommend asking young people or their families what they hope to achieve in life, including: social, relationship and educational ambitions.

Dying teenagers might want to complete their GCSEs or make specific wishes on who should be given their personal belongings, according to Dr Emily Harrop.

"When we start a conversation about end-of-life planning, rather than introduce that with a very closed question or a very negative question, we often start by asking for things like 'What do you hope for? What do you aspire to do for yourself? What would you hope your child to achieve?'", she said.

"It is incredible what you get back actually. It's rarely as simple as you'd think.

"It is always very, very individual".

Cancer hero Stephen Sutton, who was diagnosed with the disease aged 15, helped raise £5 million for charity after devoting the remainder of his life to helping the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Dr Harrop added: "It's about what they wish to achieve with the time they have - do they want to do their GCSEs?

"If they have treasured possessions, are they desperate to know who they are going to leave those to?"