Heart Failure Community of Practice

How confident do you feel managing the challenges of advanced heart failure?

We’re delighted to invite you to join a new Heart Failure Community of Practice, developed by St Christopher’s Hospice and Queen’s University Belfast. 

Our Heart Failure service, including this Community of Practice, is being generously funded by the Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust and NIHR.

Designed for clinicians caring for people living with advanced heart failure, this six-session virtual programme offers a unique opportunity to connect with colleagues from across the world, share experiences, explore challenges and learn from experts in the field. The aim of this community is to help clinicians confidently integrate palliative approaches into heart failure support and services.

The 'Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust' logo.

The Heart Failure Community of Practice has been created by St Christopher’s Hospice and Queen’s University Belfast to bring together clinicians with a shared commitment to improving care for people living with advanced heart failure. Through interactive discussions, case-based learning and practical insights, participants will:

  • Improve confidence in symptom management and supportive care
  • Explore approaches to meaningful conversations and future care planning
  • Learn from expert speakers and those with lived experience
  • Share ideas, resources and examples of good practice
  • Build connections across specialties and organisations

Designed for clinicians across heart failure and palliative care, this community of practice is suitable for:

  • Heart Failure Consultants
  • Heart Failure Specialist Nurses
  • Palliative Medicine Consultants
  • Clinical Nurse Specialists
  • Community and Hospice Teams
  • GPs and Primary Care Professionals
  • Urgent Care and Rapid Response Teams
  • District Nurses
  • Allied Health Professionals with an interest in advanced heart failure
Wednesday 16 September 20262 – 3.30pm BST
Wednesday 18 November 20262 – 3.30pm GMT
Wednesday 20 January 20272 – 3.30pm GMT
Wednesday 24 March 20272 – 3.30pm GMT
Wednesday 12 May 20272 – 3.30pm BST
Wednesday 14 July 20272 – 3.30pm BST

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

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

Marie Cooper

Marie Cooper is a nurse with extensive experience in clinical leadership and practice development across a range of care settings. Having led change in previous roles, she now enjoys working with individuals and groups to develop themselves, strengthen their practice and navigate the complex challenges facing nurses today, both in clinical practice and leadership. Marie was previously Practice Development Lead for Hospice UK, working with hospice executive and clinical leaders and national organisations to champion high-quality, accessible palliative care. In addition to being an accredited coach she works freelance with several organisations, including St Christopher’s Hospice, where she is a…
Read full profile Marie Cooper

Associate Clinical Nurse Specialists and Associate Paramedic Specialists Development Programme

Are you an Associate Clinical Nurse Specialist (ACNS) or Associate Paramedic Specialist (APS) in your first year of practice?

Join our monthly online development programme, designed to enhance your confidence, skills, and knowledge in delivering high-quality end-of-life care.

Across the UK, there is a recognised skills gap for Band 6 ACNS and ACPS professionals, with no national programme currently in place to address this need. This programme bridges the gap by covering key topics in palliative care.

As part of the programme, you’ll also join a supportive peer group, providing a space to share challenges, discuss opportunities, and learn collaboratively with others.

This one-year course is comprised of:

  • Monthly sessions covering core palliative care topics, including symptom management, autonomous working, clinical decision-making, communication, and advance care planning.
  • Virtual 1:1 sessions to provide personalised support, helping learners deepen their knowledge and skills.
  • Access to an online learning platform (OLP) to check pre-and post-course learning and review recorded sessions.

Band 6 Associate Clinical Nurse Specialists and Associate Paramedic Specialists in palliative care.

See below session dates for 2026/27. All sessions will be 2-4pm.

This cohort has now commenced but you can register your interest for next year.

28th April 26 – Introduction and assessment of palliative needs
19th May 26 – Pain assessment
16th June 26 – Neuropathic pain
14th July 26 – Nausea and vomiting
8th Sept 26 – Advanced care planning/DNAR UCP training
6th Oct 26 – Palliative care emergencies
3rd Nov 26 – Respiratory conditions in the palliative patient
1st Dec 26 – Clinical decision-making
5th Jan 27 – Interpretation of blood results
2nd Feb 27 – Working as an autonomous practitioner

By the end of the programme, you will:

  • Build a solid foundation of palliative care knowledge to enhance clinical experience.
  • Apply core concepts to real-world scenarios confidently.
  • Develop critical thinking and reflective practice in clinical decision-making.
  • Evaluate and demonstrate the integration of new knowledge into practice.

Mary Watson

Clinical Team Lead Mary joined St Christopher’s in 2014 as a Clinical Nurse Specialist. For the past 18 months she has been in the role of Associate Consultant Nurse and…
Read More Mary Watson

Chris Mangar

Chris is a Clinical Team Lead working for St Christopher’s in Bromley. He has worked in the community for many years and in specialist palliative care since 2011.  Chris combined holding…
Read More Chris Mangar

Physician Associate Introduction to Palliative Care Community of Practice

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

This introductory programme is for physician associates with an interest in furthering their knowledge and skills in palliative care.

This is the first palliative care programme in the UK specifically tailored to physician associates.

This community of practice will consist of four afternoon sessions, providing an opportunity for developing communication skills and networking. The first three sessions will be via Zoom and the last session in-person at St Christopher’s CARE in Sydenham.

The four sessions will focus on:

  • An introduction to palliative care
  • Symptom control and psychological support
  • End of life care including recognising dying and anticipatory medicines
  • Communication skills involving scenarios

Who is it for?

This community of practice is open to physician associates either working in palliative care or primary care within the boroughs served by St. Christopher’s Hospice.

CPD accreditation from the FPA (Faculty of Physician Associates) pending

Please email education@stchristophers.org.uk if you are interested to join this future community.

The global learning objectives for this community are to:

  • Understand the core principles of palliative care, including symptom management, communication, and holistic patient care.
  • Reflect on personal attitudes and biases related to death, dying, and end-of-life care, and develop a compassionate and empathetic approach towards patients and their families.

Philippa Guppy

Philippa is a palliative care trainee in London, she combines her clinical role with her educational role as senior lecturer, chief OSCE examiner for the MPAS programme and chief examiner…
Read More Philippa Guppy

Chris Mangar

Chris is a Clinical Team Lead working for St Christopher’s in Bromley. He has worked in the community for many years and in specialist palliative care since 2011.  Chris combined holding…
Read More Chris Mangar

Rehabilitative Palliative Care International Community of Practice

Rehabilitative Palliative Care

Rehabilitative Palliative Care can make a big difference in people’s 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.

Comments from previous attendees:

“Safe space to share ideas and benefit from others’ experience.”

“I have grown in confidence over the past year and have found the network of the group really helpful.”

“This training has supported developing action plans for service development which has been invaluable.”

“The chance to hear what other places are doing and develop ideas from there – it has been good to know that there are resources out there that can be developed for us to use rather than starting from scratch.”

“It has given me confidence to be able to make decisions and changes in my role at our hospice.  Knowing that people in similar roles are having similar experiences was reassuring.“

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 within your team, organisation and your national healthcare provision, 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 world.

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

This small Community will be interactive and formed of people from across the world, and we will meet 10 times over the year. 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.

There will be some pre course tasks which are likely to take a couple of hours and you will be encouraged to take the learning from the sessions and apply it into your workplace which may take some additional time.

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 working in a variety of healthcare economies who has a passion for the principles of rehabilitative palliative care and would like to make changes to their individual, team or organisational practice to more encompass these principles.

This year’s cohort is now underway. Please register your interest to join the next cohort.

Sessions will take place on Zoom 9.30-11am (UK time):

DateTime
Thursday 24 September 20269.30am–11am BST (8.30am–10am UTC)
Thursday 22 October 20269.30am–11am BST (8.30am–10am UTC)
Thursday 19 November 20269.30am–11am GMT (9.30am–11am UTC)
Thursday 17 December 20269.30am–11am GMT (9.30am–11am UTC)
Thursday 21 January 20279.30am–11am GMT (9.30am–11am UTC)
Thursday 18 February 20279.30am–11am GMT (9.30am–11am UTC)
Thursday 18 March 20279.30am–11am GMT (9.30am–11am UTC)
Thursday 22 April 20279.30am–11am BST (8.30am–10am UTC)
Thursday 20 May 20279.30am–11am BST (8.30am–10am UTC)
Thursday 24 June 20279.30am–11am BST (8.30am–10am UTC)

Lizzy Jenkins

Lizzy has been an Occupational Therapist at St Christopher’s since 2021, with experience working across the inpatient unit and outpatients. Lizzy also works one day a week as a learning…
Read More Lizzy Jenkins

Community of Practice for Activity Coordinators & Wellbeing teams

Community of Practice for for Activity Coordinators HELP Care Home Partners

Come and join us for our Community of Practice, a place to learn and grow together, developing new skills through evidenced-based education, equipping you in your practice to help improve the quality of the life of your residents.

We look forward to seeing you at St Christopher’s CARE soon!

If you would like to become a Care Home Learning Partner and benefit from places on other training as well as this community please email us at education@stchristophers.org.uk

Next session: Thursday 5th November 2 – 4pm

Welcome to our Community of Practice for Activity Coordinators and Wellbeing practitioners. In this Community you will have the opportunity to network with likeminded individuals whose roles are all about enhancing the quality of life of the residents you work with.

We will meet four times over the year and explore topics such as goal setting, supporting people with dementia and the importance of maximising physical and mental potential.

As a community you will be able to shape the topics we cover, and receive knowledge and support. There is plenty of opportunity for networking, sharing ideas and problem solving together.

What you will learn will be shaped by the community giving you the opportunity to tailor the learning to meet your needs but we anticipate exploring

  • How we can support residents to keep moving
  • How we can support people with dementia to participate in activities
  • How it feels and how we can support ourselves, residents and other staff members when a resident dies

Who is it for?

This community is for anyone working as an Activity Coordinator, Wellbeing Practitioner or similar roles within a care home or other setting.

Care Home Learning Partners are entitled to free educational care home initiatives run by St Christopher’s.

Find out more about becoming a Care Home Learning Partner

Lizzy Jenkins

Lizzy has been an Occupational Therapist at St Christopher’s since 2021, with experience working across the inpatient unit and outpatients. Lizzy also works one day a week as a learning facilitator in the Professional Learning team. She chose to specialise in oncology and palliative care 10 years ago and has worked in a specialist oncology hospital, as well as several hospices in that time. Lizzy is passionate about supporting people to live well until they die.
Read full profile Lizzy Jenkins

Independent Prescribers – Community of Practice

Independent Prescribers

The 2026/27 community is now available for booking.

Sessions take place bi-monthly online on Zoom and run from 2 – 3.30pm.

Resources and recordings will be made available to you on our Online Learning Platform, allowing you to sign up for the community at any time during the year.

What will the Community of Practice look like?

This annual membership programme provides an online community of practice supporting Nurses and Allied Health Care Professionals who are independent prescribers working in palliative and end of life care. The community provides members with a space for reflection, discussion and sharing of best practice.

This year we have chosen to continue with last year’s format of delivery ensuring we maximise opportunities for people to learn together as a community during live sessions. This community will meet 6 times per year (alternate months). In between the live sessions ongoing learning, reflection and critical thinking will also be facilitated through on demand resources, activities and forum discussions.

The sessions, covering a wide range of end of life prescribing issues, will include opportunities to learn from clinical experts whilst being supported to consider application of learning in practice through case study discussions, reflection and Q&A.

Members of the community can access the presentations on our Online Learning Platform (OLP). The OLP will also be home to documents, reference materials and the case studies discussed in the sessions.

What will I learn?

The next session is Tuesday 24th November, 2 – 3.30pm

Topic: Optimising the use of injectable end-of-life medications at home: evidence and next steps

Please note: Even if you have missed earlier sessions you can still join the community as you will have access to our Online Learning Platform where all recordings and resources can be found.

This year’s topics will cover:

  • Neuropathic pain
  • Steroids
  • Medicine reconciliation
  • Prescribing for insomnia
  • Optimising the use of injectable end-of-life medications at home: evidence and next steps
  • Managing distress/agitation in dementia patients at the end of life

Who is it for?

This community will be of interest to nurse and allied health professional independent prescribers working in palliative care.

Tuesday 21st April2-3.30pm
Tuesday 16th June2-3.30pm
Tuesday 21st July2-3.30pm
Tuesday 22nd September2-3.30pm
Tuesday 24th November2-3.30pm
Tuesday 19th January2-3.30pm

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