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CARE Course Audience: Allied health professionals

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Heart Failure Community of Practice

We are inviting anyone with an interest in the care of those living with and dying from heart failure to join our community of practice.

This is an online community, bringing together individuals and teams to share knowledge and experiences in a supportive and inclusive environment, with the aim of enhancing the experiences of life, death, dying and loss for those with heart failure and their families, friends and carers.

This will be an interactive series of 6 topics including case based discussions and teaching from people working in the fields of heart failure and palliative care.  Please do sign up and join our community and bring examples of practice which we can support with and all learn together.

What will I learn?

There are 6 online sessions in total. The first session will be on Wednesday 24th January 12-1.30pm. Topic: Likely trajectory

All online sessions:

Wednesday 24th January12.00 – 1.30pmLikely trajectory
Tuesday 13th February12.30 – 2.00pmMeaningful conversations
Wednesday 6th March3.00 – 4.30pmSymptom management in heart failure
Wednesday 10th April3.00 – 4.30pmSymptom management EOL in heart failure
Wednesday 8th May3.00 – 4.30pmICDs
Tuesday 11th June12.30 – 2.00pmChanging focus of rehabilitation

Who is it for?

  • Palliative care teams
  • Heart failure teams
  • Clinicians working in either specialty
  • Primary care colleagues
  • Clinicians working in complex care or rapid response teams
  • Clinicians working in urgent care

What will this community look like?

As part of an ongoing project to enhance the palliative care experiences of people living with and dying from heart failure, we want to build a community of practice to help engage professionals, recognise the unique needs of this group of people and consider ways together to create person centred and integrated care across disciplines, organisations and specialties.

By attending this community of practice you will:

  • Be aware of the palliative care needs of people living with and dying from heart failure with an increased understanding of when to refer to palliative care services.
  • Be confident in basic symptom management arising from advancing heart failurex.
  • Know more about how to optimise quality of life for people living with heart failure.
  • Be prepared to engage in courageous and sensitive conversations about future care options and decisions.
  • Be clear about timing and approach for challenging conversations and decisions related to deactivation of ICDs and similar.

Isobel Jackson

Isobel is a palliative heart failure advanced practitioner at St Christopher’s and has worked in palliative care for approximately eight years and supporting people living with heart failure for three of those years. Her background is mostly in community palliative care but also acute and intensive care.
Read full profile Isobel Jackson
Joy Ross

Dr Joy Ross

Consultant in Palliative Medicine, St Christopher’s Dr Joy Ross trained at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Medical School. She completed her PhD at Imperial College, London, studying the pharmacogenetics of response to opioids. She has worked as a Palliative Care Consultant at St Joseph’s Hospice, London and then at the Royal Marsden and Royal Brompton Palliative Care Service. She is currently working at St Christopher’s Hospice with a specialist interest in developing palliative care services for the frail elderly and those with non-malignant disease including heart failure
Read full profile Dr Joy Ross
Fiona Hodson

Fiona Hodson

Consultant Nurse Fiona trained at Guy’s and St Thomas’. She initially worked at St Christopher’s Hospice with Dame Cicely Saunders. She then specialised in cardiology for 26 years including setting up cardiac rehab services, running cardiac support groups and as a valvular research nurse. She then worked as a heart failure CNS both in hospital and running clinics in GP practices. In 2005 she was part of a joint research project between palliative care and cardiology, exploring the palliative care needs of heart failure patients. She then moved to work as a community palliative care CNS at Guys. In 2017…
Read full profile Fiona Hodson

Sensitive Conversations

This module will give you the opportunity to reflect on your current practice and consider ways to approach the challenges that these conversations bring. 

This module is currently available on an introductory offer of £45 for three modules, including Nurse Verification of Expected Adult Death and Introduction to the Principles of Palliative Care (free for South East London professionals)

Buy now – 3 modules for £45

What will I learn?

  • The basics of good communication                      
  • Challenges of having sensitive conversations 
  • Learning from the past – understanding what patients want
  • Recognising the skills required for sensitive conversation             

Who is it for?

All health and social care professionals wanting to know more about sensitive conversations.

What will the course look like?

We have created an on demand module suitable for all health and social care professionals wanting to learn more about sensitive conversations.

Introduction to the Principles of Palliative Care

This module is currently available on an introductory offer of £45 for three modules, including Nurse Verification of Expected Adult Death and Sensitive Conversations (free for South East London professionals)

Buy now – 3 modules for £45

What will I learn?

  • The definition of palliative care and its key concepts;
  • the history and development of modern palliative care;
  • the potential future challenges and changes in the field of palliative and end of life care.

Who is it for?

All health and social care professionals wanting to know more about the principles of palliative care.

What will the course look like?

We have created an on demand module suitable for all health and social care professionals wanting to learn more about the principles and key concepts of palliative care.

Rehabilitative Palliative Care: Webinar 4

Following our hugely successful Rehabilitative Palliative Care conference in 2022, we delivered a series of webinars on the new model of holistic rehabilitative palliative care.

What will I learn?

Part 1: Introducing the model and exploring leadership challenges
Introducing a revised model of holistic rehabilitative palliative care and exploring the leadership challenges of changing practice in your area and how to address them

Part 2: “My illness does not define me”. Identity crisis: adjustment to living with a life limiting condition
This workshop will explore the psychological impact of living with a life-limiting condition on self, relationships and community, focusing on adjustment through periods of transitional change. We will look at how as professionals we can take proactive steps to finding the person within the patient.

About the model

Who is it for?

This community of practice is aimed at anyone working in any setting, who wants rehabilitative palliative care to be an important part of their current and future ethos and service delivery. A basic knowledge of rehabilitative palliative care is assumed.

Watch again access to this webinar is FREE for professionals in South East London as part of the Hospice Education and Learning Partnership (HELP).

Helena Talbot-Rice

Helena Talbot Rice

Helena joined St Christopher’s in June 2011 after thirteen years working clinically in the acute sector in the NHS. Prior to St Christopher’s, she worked in various large teaching hospitals…
Read More Helena Talbot Rice
Middle aged white woman, smiling to camera with short blond hair

Heather Richardson

Director of Education, Research and End of Life Policy at St Christopher’s Hospice, Honorary Professor in the International Observatory on End of Life Care at Lancaster University and Senior Research…
Read More Heather Richardson
Gail Preston

Gail Preston

Gail has a wide ranging experience in Physiotherapy, coming to work at St Christopher’s in 2011. She has been involved in all aspects of Rehabilitation at St Christopher’s including developing…
Read More Gail Preston

Rehabilitative Palliative Care: Webinar 3

Following our hugely successful Rehabilitative Palliative Care conference in 2022, we delivered a series of webinars on the new model of holistic rehabilitative palliative care.

What will I learn?

Part 1: Introducing the model and exploring leadership challenges
Introducing a revised model of holistic rehabilitative palliative care and exploring the leadership challenges of changing practice in your area and how to address them

Part 2: Eating and drinking towards end of life: making choice a reality
Exploring how healthcare professionals can enable people to make choices around eating and drinking to enhance their quality of life. We focus on how we can truly take a risk-confident approach.

About the model

Who is it for?

This webinar is aimed at anyone working in any setting, who wants rehabilitative palliative care to be an important part of their current and future ethos and service delivery. A basic knowledge of rehabilitative palliative care is assumed.

Watch again access to this webinar is FREE for professionals in South East London as part of the Hospice Education and Learning Partnership (HELP). 

Helena Talbot-Rice

Helena Talbot Rice

Helena joined St Christopher’s in June 2011 after thirteen years working clinically in the acute sector in the NHS. Prior to St Christopher’s, she worked in various large teaching hospitals…
Read More Helena Talbot Rice
Middle aged white woman, smiling to camera with short blond hair

Heather Richardson

Director of Education, Research and End of Life Policy at St Christopher’s Hospice, Honorary Professor in the International Observatory on End of Life Care at Lancaster University and Senior Research…
Read More Heather Richardson
Gail Preston

Gail Preston

Gail has a wide ranging experience in Physiotherapy, coming to work at St Christopher’s in 2011. She has been involved in all aspects of Rehabilitation at St Christopher’s including developing…
Read More Gail Preston
Isla Jones

Isla Jones

Isla Jones has worked at St Christopher’s hospice as a speech and language therapist since 2020 and prior to this has over 15 years experience working as a speech and…
Read More Isla Jones
Nina Herrington

Nina Herrington

Nina Herrington is a qualified dietitian and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Nina has worked at St Christopher’s Hospice since January 2022 and has a specific…
Read More Nina Herrington

Rehabilitative Palliative Care: Webinar 1

Support hands

What will I learn?

Find out about how and why St Christopher’s has taken a rehabilitative approach to changing its delivery of certain areas of work from a professionally delivered service to a community action initiative.

See how we have managed the development, complexity, challenges and success of setting up a targeted specialist-led group for people living with progressive neurological conditions.

Hear about what this entails, then be tasked with identifying and exploring an area of your own work where you can apply all or some of the elements of this approach.

Who is it for?

This webinar is aimed at anyone working in any setting, who wants rehabilitative palliative care to be an important part of their current and future ethos and service delivery. A basic knowledge of rehabilitative palliative care is assumed.

Gail Preston

Gail Preston

Gail has a wide ranging experience in Physiotherapy, coming to work at St Christopher’s in 2011. She has been involved in all aspects of Rehabilitation at St Christopher’s including developing…
Read More Gail Preston
Mary Hodgson

Mary Hodgson

Head of Community Action & Learning/CARE Co-Lead, St Christopher’s Hospice. Mary is an experienced community facilitator and researcher, and is interested in how people understand societal challenges and want to…
Read More Mary Hodgson

Rehabilitative Palliative Care Community of Practice

Rehabilitative Palliative Care can make a big difference in peoples lives, upholding them as an individual and supporting them to be the best that they can be. Sometimes we know that creating change, implementing something new can be challenging and you can benefit from support along the way. This Community of Practice will support you using an ‘Action Learning’ model to create challenge, action planning and learning.

When we are excited about change and want to implement something new it is important to take people with us and create lasting change. In these sessions we will support each other to see how the model can be used in your place of work. We will explore the challenges and opportunities that there are available to you and share expertise and experience within the group.

These sessions will not only give you a variety of support to take actions where you may be struggling but also an opportunity to network with other like minded professionals across the country and potentially beyond.

If you have any questions about the programme please contact education@stchristophers.org.uk

The Community will be interactive and formed of 6-8 people and we will meet every 3-4 weeks. This group will be based on some of the principles of Action Learning sets. In the first session we will reflect on how the new Rehabilitative Palliative Care model fits in the context of our work. We will think about the role that we all have to play as leaders, whatever level we might be in an organisation. We’ll start to think about how these might link to see what changes we would like to make where we work to implement this way of thinking.

You will be encouraged to create an overall goal and vision for the programme and consider the steps that you will need to take to implement it. The group will discuss these and provide support and encouragement along the way. We will then have opportunities, over the proceeding months, to bring issues that you are having to the group.

The aim is to create a continuous process of learning and reflection, supported by members with an intention of moving things forward. Though the group each participant with gather knowledge and have time for active reflection before making a plan. This will be followed up on subsequent sessions so we can all gain from each other’s learning.

This group is open to anyone who has a passion for the principles of rehabilitative palliative care and would like to make changes to their individual or organisational practice to more encompass these principles.

Gail Preston

Gail Preston

Gail has a wide ranging experience in Physiotherapy, coming to work at St Christopher’s in 2011. She has been involved in all aspects of Rehabilitation at St Christopher’s including developing…
Read More Gail Preston

Each session is held on a Tuesday, from 09:30 – 11:00 online.

  • 30 January, 2024
  • 27 February, 2024
  • 19 March, 2024
  • 16 April, 2024
  • 14 May, 2024
  • 11 June,2024
  • 16 July, 2024
  • 17 September, 2024
  • 15 October, 2024
  • 26 November, 2024

Multi-Professional Academy (MPA)

Multi-Professional Academy (MPA) is a five day intensive learning event focused on understanding and preparing attendees to implement rehabilitative palliative care in their settings.

To book we have a simple electronic form below for you to complete (in the ‘Applications’ tab – please scroll down). We look forward to hearing from you.

Potential attendees

This multi professional week seeks to draw in a broad range of individuals who are keen to advance their practice or that of their colleagues to reflect the principles of rehabilitative palliative care.  If you are an allied health professional (physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech and language therapist or dietician), then this will be of interest to you.  In addition, we are keen to draw in social workers, chaplains, nurses and doctors. We also welcome organisational leaders who are interested to develop the values, philosophy of care, facilities and skills of their workforce to take advantage of the benefits offered by Rehabilitative Palliative Care.

In an ideal world teams of two to three individuals from any single organisation or region will attend together. The programme provides ongoing opportunity in the course of the week to establish an action plan for implementation of Rehabilitative Palliative Care.

Apply online to attend MPA

You must complete this form:

Background

There is little doubt that individuals and societies around the world call for greater attention to people’s wellbeing and sense of identity, regardless of their age or how close they are to death. Retaining physical functionality and the opportunity for self-determination is central to an individual’s quality of life and vital to their experiences of dignity, comfort and self-determination. As people live longer with conditions such as frailty, additional effort is required on the part of health and social care professionals and other carers to help people identify what is most important to them and find every opportunity to enable them to achieve these goals as they come towards the end of their life.

We call this Rehabilitative Palliative Care and have been honing this approach at St Christopher’s for nearly a decade. It is not merely the opportunity of allied health professionals. Indeed, it is everyone’s business and its success depends on buy-in and enactment by families and neighbours alongside a broad range of professionals, supported also by organisational recognition and investment.

Details of the programme

We expect participants to attend all five days of the programme. During that time we will be focusing on:

  • Introducing rehabilitative palliative care, its holistic focus and why it is important now
  • Identity and wellbeing within palliative and end of life care – and how we work to address these important notions
  • Person centred goal setting across the multi disciplinary team – how to do it and why
  • Organisational change to support rehabilitative palliative care and its values/philosophy
  • Top tips for leading change to introduce rehabilitative palliative care

In the course of the programme you will have opportunities to see rehabilitative palliative care in practice and how it is integrated into the day to day work of St Christopher’s. We will also provide opportunities for you to talk to colleagues who have led on this work for inpatients and people living at home.

Learning outputs/outcomes

By the end of the course participants can expect to:

  1. Enjoy an in-depth understanding of the concept of rehabilitative palliative care
  2. Appreciate its value in relation to contemporary requirements for palliative care
  3. Understand its application to a variety of people who are approaching the end of life and those supporting them, in a number of different contexts including home, care homes, inpatient units
  4. Realise the value and how rehabilitative palliative care can be adopted in low, middle and high income countries
  5. Integrate intentions to support organisational change alongside practice development related to rehabilitative palliative care
  6. Have generated a detailed action plan to guide implementation in a local setting

The style of learning will be highly interactive. Confidence to learn and contribute in English will be important for participants who are keen to maximise the value of attending.

Dates

This course will run between the 9th and 13th October 2023. Sessions focused on elements of rehabilitative palliative care will be available. A celebration of learning, including the funders will take place in the afternoon of the 13th.

We set this date to fit with a global conference that a partner organisation Palliative Care Works runs annually. This year their conference will run on Saturday 14th October in Oxford. Participants attending Multi Professional Academy are warmly invited to attend either in person or virtually. The focus of the conference is around the delivery of palliative care education at an international level. More details about the organisation and its resources are here https://palliativecareworks.org

In the news

Teach with CARE – improve your teaching practice

  • Are you passionate about teaching in health and social care?
  • Do you want to fine tune your teaching practice?
  • Would you like to introduce innovations in your approach to learning?  

Teach with CARE is a four-day course combining online and in person teaching spread over several weeks.

The course considers different perspectives of adult learning and pedagogy.

The sessions introduce best practice techniques including planning; presenting; resourcing; questioning; assessing and evaluating teaching across the four days.

Learners will also look at online educational tools for effective teaching as well as evaluating best practice for face-to-face and online teaching. They will have the opportunity to plan and share a short teaching session and receive supportive feedback.

“Teach with CARE has been developed to secure quality end of life education for the future. Learners will develop teaching skills that are reflective of best practice, in keeping with St Christopher’s ambitions for education. Through Teach with CARE we aim to secure a future of palliative and end of life care education, that has a real impact on learners and people at this crucial phase of life.”

Maaike Vandeweghe, Head of Professional Programmes of Learning & CARE Co-Lead

“I really enjoyed the four days. I think that Teach with CARE should be mandatory for all (teaching colleagues), no matter how long they have been teaching. It gives everyone a platform from which they can be launched and a sense of what is expected of them.” 

Teach with CARE attendee

What will the course look like?

This course will involve:

  • Online (days 2 and 3) and face-to-face (days 1 and 4) learning
  • Exploration of academic and web articles
  • A range of activity types including: live and video presentation; using interactive tools as both a learner and a teacher; discussion; pair and group work; self-study; critical thinking; reflection
  • Completion of tasks before and after sessions

What will I learn?

  • Theories of teaching and learning
  • Consider the needs of adult learners and how to create engaging learning
  • Consider implications for practice when teaching face-to-face or virtually
  • Enhance and develop teaching practice

Who is it for?

The course is for anyone who wishes to improve their teaching practice face-to-face and online, particularly those in health and social care, but the learning from this course can be used in most settings.

Matthew Tregellas

Matt Tregellas

After graduating from the University of Sheffield, Matt moved to Japan where he began his career as an English language teacher. After three years, Matt returned to the UK where…
Read More Matt Tregellas
Maaike Vandeweghe

Maaike Vandeweghe

Head of Professional Learning Programmes and CARE Co-Lead, St Christopher’s CARE Maaike graduated from the KATHO (Roeselare, Belgium) in 2002 as a general and mental health nurse. She started her…
Read More Maaike Vandeweghe
Deborah Holman

Deborah Holman

Deborah Holman has been working at St Christopher’s since 2002 in clinical practice, in care homes and in education. For 8 years prior to this she worked closely with St Christopher’s…
Read More Deborah Holman

Programme

  • Exploring St Christopher’s CARE aims and Pedagogical Framework
  • Considering different perspectives on adult learning
  • Planning; presenting; resourcing; questioning; assessing and evaluating teaching in response to learner input and feedback
  • Considering best practice for face-to-face and online teaching
  • Using online tools for effective teaching
  • Planning and sharing the rationale for a teaching session

Day 1

10.00Welcome and Introductions
St Christopher’s CARE and the Pedagogical Framework
11.00Break
11.15Theories of learning
12.15Lunch
12.55Adult learning and active learning
14.15Reflection, evaluation and wrap up
15.00Close

Day 2

10.00The teaching context
11.15Break
11.30Constructive alignment, learning outcomes and Bloom’s taxonomy
12.40Lunch
13.20Online educational tools
14.20Homework set up and reflection
15.00Close

Day 3

10.00The Conversational Framework
Active learning activity share
11.15Break
11.30Anatomy of a teaching session
Planning a teaching session
12.40Lunch
13.20Flipped learning
13.50Multimedia design
14.30Homework set up and reflection
15.00Close

Day 4

10.00Evaluation and reflection
11.15Break
11.30Making and delivering an activity with educational technology
12.45Lunch
13.25Power up PowerPoint and Zoom workshop
14.05Putting it into practice
14.30Assignment + Q&A, Final reflection, Next steps
15.00Farewell

Palliative Care for People with Advanced Dementia

As a health or social care professional supporting people at the end of life, do you feel confident and competent to support and care for people with advanced dementia and their carers?

As part of a whole new learning programme here at St Christopher’s CARE to upskill clinicians and colleagues working in all settings to better understand and support the growing number of people with dementia at the end of life, we’ve created this three-day course.

And, to meet the needs of people with busy working schedules and different areas of interest and expertise, this has been designed to be a flexible course. That means learners may complete all three days, any two, or just the one that most suits their needs.

You can choose to attend all 3 days or whichever one suits your needs.

What will I learn?

New dates to be released soon

Day One Topic: Common Symptoms in People Living with Advanced Dementia

  • Dementia: pathophysiology, aetiology and key symptoms
  • How to support people displaying distressed and adaptive behaviours
  • How to recognise and managing pain in people living with dementia
  • How to recognise delirium in people living with dementia
  • Discuss dementia case scenarios
Helen Scott

Helen Scott

Helen is an Independent Nurse Lecturer specialising in palliative and end-of-life care and dementia. She is a Visiting Lecturer for St Christopher’s Hospice, London, and an Associate Trainer for Dementia…
Read More Helen Scott

What will I learn?

Thursday 7 December 2023 (virtual)

Day Two Topic: Key palliative care issues relating to people with advanced dementia and their carers

This study day – the second in our three-part palliative care and dementia series – will highlight some of the important palliative care issues relating to people with advanced dementia and their loved ones. The goals of the day are to help learners:

  • Be more familiar with the signs and symptoms that dementia is progressing and of the last 6-12 months of life
  • Understand the importance of end-of-life planning to prevent crisis admissions to the hospital
  • Recognise and address ways in which dementia may impact on nutritional intake
  • Be more aware of how people with advanced dementia process and cope with grief and loss and how best to support them and their families talk about grief and loss
  • Understand that services can be developed to support people with advanced dementia stay at home for as long as possible
  • Know the stressors associated with caring for someone with dementia at the end of life.
Helen Scott

Helen Scott

Helen is an Independent Nurse Lecturer specialising in palliative and end-of-life care and dementia. She is a Visiting Lecturer for St Christopher’s Hospice, London, and an Associate Trainer for Dementia…
Read More Helen Scott
Tracey Carter

Tracey Carter

Tracey Carter is an Registered Mental Nurse with over 35 years experience within the mental health arena, the last 15 years having been specifically within the Dementia Care field. Tracey…
Read More Tracey Carter
Monica Crugel

Dr Monica Crugel

Dr Monica Crugel has more than 20 years’ experience in psychiatry and specialises in the care of older adults and people with dementia. She was a research fellow in a…
Read More Dr Monica Crugel
Helen King

Helen King

Helen is a Consultant Nurse at St Christopher’s. Helen joined St Christopher’s in 2019 to work on embedding the Age Attuned Palliative Care project – this work continued during the…
Read More Helen King
Shafika Banoo

Shafika Banoo

Shafika currently works at St Christopher’s Hospice as a clinical fellow in the IPU. Shafika previously worked in India as a consultant in the city of Chennai in India for…
Read More Shafika Banoo
Maria Aparicio

Maria Aparicio

Maria has worked as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Palliative Care with St Christopher’s Hospice in the Community team in 2018. For two years she joined the St Christopher’s Centre…
Read More Maria Aparicio

What will I learn?

Thursday 30 November 2023 (in person at CARE) and Thursday 1 February 2024 (virtual)

Day Three Topic: Communicating with people living with advanced dementia and their loved ones

  • Understand the different ways in which individuals with dementia communicate
  • Understand communication barriers and factors that can affect communication in a negative way
  • Be aware that non-verbal communication is an essential component of communication for people living with dementia

This course is pitched at an intermediate level and is suitable for nurses, doctors, social workers, occupational therapists, paramedics, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists.

Principles and Practice of Palliative and End of Life Care for Registered Nurses, Nursing Associates and Allied Health Professionals

Outline

The COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus the importance of end of life care, across all settings.

This three-day introduction provides all registered nurses, nursing associates and allied health professionals, with the essential building blocks to support patients and their families at the end of life, in the community, acute hospitals, primary care, hospices, prisons and care homes.

Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss, evaluate and increase their knowledge, skills and confidence in relation to end of life care.

This is course consists of three in-person days at St Christopher’s CARE in Sydenham, London.

You will be provided with access to our Online Learning Platform which will be available for three months for you to view resources from the course.

What will I learn?

On completion of this course you will:

  • Have increased confidence and skills in end of life care
  • Be aware of national and local resources and services available
  • Explore barriers and difficulties that may be encountered at a personal, professionals and service level
  • Develop communication skills and confidence to deal with challenging questions around dying
  • Develop skills in symptom and pain control
  • Identify areas for development within your own practice and apply learning from the course to optimise those areas.

On completion of the course you will receive a certificate of attendance.

Who is it for?

This course is aimed at all Registered Nurses, Nursing Associates and Allied Health Professionals working in any setting.

Attendees from the November 2023 course gave this feedback:

“[The teachers] were very knowledgeable and delivered the training with utmost passion for the course.”

“Very knowledgeable and was very helpful. Has changed my mindset of palliative care.”

“Very interactive”

“Keep up the good work in imparting knowledge that will have a great impact on how professionals give care.”

We also run a two-day course for health and social care assistants.

Supported by visiting lecturers and clinicians

Deborah Holman

Deborah Holman

Deborah Holman has been working at St Christopher’s since 2002 in clinical practice, in care homes and in education. For 8 years prior to this she worked closely with St Christopher’s as a district nurse with a keen interest in caring for people who chose to die at home. From 2012 – 2019 Deborah, alongside others set up St Christopher’s Personal Care Service and worked as the Registered Manager delivering integrated health and social care in people’s homes to those who were frail elderly, having long term conditions and those in the last year of life. Deborah has been involved in…
Read full profile Deborah Holman

Quality End of Life Care for All (QELCA)©

Five-day course at St Christopher’s followed by six work-based action learning sessions to be held monthly.

Further information

Liz Bryan
St Christopher’s CARE, 51-59 Lawrie Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 6DZ
Telephone: 020 8768 4711
Email: l.bryan@stchristophers.org.uk

Hospices and specialist palliative care units are a valuable learning resource for supporting and enabling generalists to improve patient care at end of life. The QELCA© programme is an innovation in end of life care education. It was originally designed by St Christopher’s Hospice, to empower teams of clinical nurse managers from acute, community or care home settings to lead on the delivery of high quality care to patients and families at the end of life. However, it is now being rolled out to other disciplines and settings.

QELCA© has been formally evaluated in partnership with the King’s Fund. A full evaluation report is available on request from Liz Bryan at l.bryan@stchristophers.org.uk. It has since been rolled out nationally to acute nurses in collaboration with Help the Hospices and NHS Improving Quality (formally the End of Life Care Programme). An executive summary of that evaluation report for 2012/13 is available here.

Liz Bryan

Liz Bryan

Liz is Education Senior Associate at St Christopher’s CARE. Previously she was the Director of Education and Training at St Christopher’s. Liz Bryan has a background in palliative care nursing,…
Read More Liz Bryan

Quality End of Life Care for All (QELCA©) Train the Trainer Programme

Background

People are living longer with complex comorbidities resulting in significant challenges for many healthcare systems around the world. Focusing education and training on the workforce who deliver the bulk of the care at end of life is often seen as one strategy to ensure that dying is managed by professionals with skill and compassion.

QELCA stands for Quality End of Life Care for All. The QELCA© programme is an innovation in end of life care education, designed by St Christopher’s to empower teams of clinicians from any setting or discipline to lead on the delivery of high quality care to patients and families at the end of life.

Hospice and specialist palliative care professionals have valuable skills for supporting and enabling generalists to improve patient care at end of life. If your organisation would like to become a QELCA© Satellite to deliver the QELCA© Programme to other organisations, please download the QELCA© Satellite flowchart which explains the process. The process begins by identifying at least two staff members to attend the QELCA© Train the Trainer Programme.

St Christopher’s will provide you with teaching resources and support throughout the delivery of your first QELCA© Programme. Learning will be assessed by academic assignment and submission of a portfolio of evidence.

Both programmes, QELCA© and QELCA© Train the Trainers are certified by St Christopher’s CARE.

View QELCA©  Satellites Flow Chart

What will I learn?

  • The rationale for the development of QELCA©
  • The theory underpinning the QELCA© approach to end of life care education
  • Evaluation data to date
  • The role of the QELCA© Trainer and strategies to overcome obstacles to effective delivery of the programme
  • The core elements of the QELCA© programme, how to deliver them and what resources to use

Successful completion of this assessed programme results in St Christopher’s CARE certification and entry on the St Christopher’s held register of QELCA© Trainers available to the public via St Christopher’s website. Please note that there are annual CPPD requirements to remain on the register.

Who is it for?

For specialist palliative care professionals from:

  • Medicine
  • Nursing
  • Psychology
  • Social work
  • Counselling
  • Allied health
  • Education

You must have:

  • A minimum of 3 years experience of working in palliative care
  • Support from employing organisation to deliver the QELCA© programme
  • The ability to attend all the training sessions
  • The ability to deliver the QELCA© programme in the next 6 to 12 months
  • The ability to successfully complete course assessments/assignments (at the equivalent of academic level 6) and practical activities.
Liz Bryan

Liz Bryan

Liz is Education Senior Associate at St Christopher’s CARE. Previously she was the Director of Education and Training at St Christopher’s. Liz Bryan has a background in palliative care nursing,…
Read More Liz Bryan

How can I find out more?

St Christopher’s exists to provide and promote skilled and compassionate end of life care of the highest quality. We aim to realise a society where all dying people and those close to them have access to the care and support they need, when and wherever they need it. We promote excellence in end of life care by delivering a range of training programmes to students from all over the world.

If you have any questions about this or any other of our courses, please contact the Professional Learning Team who will be happy to help.

Telephone 020 8768 4656
Email education@stchristophers.org.uk

Advanced Assessment in Enhancing Palliative Care Practice

This course is run in partnership with King’s College London and aims to facilitate the personal and professional development of palliative care nurses and allied health professionals (AHPs) engaged in advancing their clinical practice and palliative care service delivery. The applicants must be clinical and working at Band 6 or above, and they must currently work in practice with access to a mentor.

The aim is to equip practitioners to work effectively within their organisational structure and to apply key principles to the development of their practice/service. The development of these skills will be underpinned by strategic concepts, appropriate theoretical frameworks and analytical tools, which will encourage practitioners to critically analyse the scope of their current role.

This module is the core course for the MSc Advanced Practice (Palliative Care).

Discovery Days at St Christopher’s

We welcome professionals and others interested to gain insight into the work of St Christopher’s – focused on the past, present and the future.

Opportunities exist for visits – normally planned for a Friday, focused on a programme designed to be of particular value to professionals (particularly those working in the health and social care sectors). On alternate months, a similar opportunity exists for members of the general public.

The half-day programme for professionals outlines our history and founding principles, the care on offer today and how we are preparing for future challenges and opportunities.

During your visit you will tour both St Christopher’s Centre for Awareness and Response to End of Life (CARE) and the hospice and meet a variety of people involved in St Christopher’s who will guide your visit and explain the services we offer.

If you would like a programme that is more bespoke to your learning needs, opportunities exist to co-design a programme as part of a group visit. See here for more details.

You are invited to download our new History and Walking Tour App in preparation for your visit.

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