CARE Event Type: Programme

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

Evolve: Interdisciplinary Palliative Care for the Future

Are you motivated to enable people to achieve what matters most to them as they approach the end of their life?

Do you aspire for your team to work in a more integrated and collaborative way?

Are you grappling with increasing demands and time pressures whilst striving to maintain a person-centred approach?

The Evolve Programme logo. The word evolve in handwritten font, with 'Palliative Care for the Future' underneath.

If so, we invite you to join a group of like-minded professionals on the EVOLVE Programme – a year long course of practice transformation that will support and empower you to implement the changes you wish to see.

The EVOLVE Programme is a highly evaluated, international course that challenges you to interrogate your current palliative care practice from fresh perspectives and to implement change at patient, team and service levels. The programme is values-based, driven by the underpinning goal of enabling people to live fully until they die and a conviction that the future of palliative care must be interdisciplinary – where professionals and teams work across boundaries to achieve their fullest potential and impact.

Through a proven formula that integrates evidence-based principles, critical reflection and discussion, strategic action planning and expert coaching from Consultant and Thought Leader, Rebecca Tiberini, the EVOLVE Programme offers you a unique opportunity to transform your own and your team’s practice to be person-centred, interdisciplinary and fit for the future.

The EVOLVE Programme is a year long course consisting of a one day in person Masterclass, a virtual day and three virtual coaching sessions. The programme design is solution-focused, highly interactive and underpinned by implementation science to enable you to implement new thinking into practice. The programme includes:

  • ‘Evolved Palliative Care for the Future’ – a future-orientated model underpinned by research and international policy on interdisciplinary and rehabilitative approaches.
  • Key concepts and practices: ‘What matters to you?’, person-centred goal setting, interdisciplinary vs multidisciplinary working, effective role blurring, needs-based leadership
  • Critical evaluation of your current practice and that of your team, organisation and partnership working – to identify your bright spots and areas for development
  • Creation and implementation of your own EVOLVE Project and Strategic Action Plan
  • Expert coaching and a supportive community of colleagues to help you make the change happen in practice.

This programme is facilitated in collaboration with St Christopher’s who will bring the concepts of The EVOLVE Programme to life through a range of interdisciplinary practice examples.

The EVOLVE Programme is an opportunity for professionals that are motivated to deliver the highest standard of person-centred care for people approaching the end of life through highly, effective team working.

The EVOLVE Programme is open to:

  • All disciplines including nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitians, speech and language therapists, social workers, psychologists, spiritual care workers, therapists, bereavement counsellors, team leaders and clinical managers.
  • All specialisms including palliative care, geriatrics, general practice, oncology, respiratory, neurology.

You may be a clinical nurse specialist or senior social worker, aspiring to support patients’ and families’ holistic needs but feeling increasingly time pressured and looking for a fresh new approach that enables you to be both person-centred and efficient.

You may be a clinical leader, palliative care consultant or inpatient manager, aspiring to lead your multidiscipinary team to be as effective and efficient as possible – in other words to work in an INTERdisciplinary way.

You may be a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, dietitian or speech and language therapist, aspiring to embed a team culture of rehabilitative palliative care that enables people to reach their personal goals and preserve autonomy up until the last moment.

You may be a senior leader, hospice or care home manager, aspiring to respond to the challenges of increasing demands on your service whilst striving to deliver quality, person-centred care and work effectively with partner services.

For each of these and many more the EVOLVE Programme is for you.

  • Day 1: Friday 5 February (in-person at Christopher’s CARE, SE26 6DZ)
  • Day 2: Friday 12 February (virtual via Zoom)

As part of The EVOLVE Programme, there will also be three online follow-up sessions:

  • Coaching session 1: Friday 5 March 2027, 9:30 – 11am
  • Coaching session 2: Friday 4 June 2027, 9:30 – 11am
  • Coaching session 3: Friday 8 October 2027, 9:30am – 12:30pm

The EVOLVE Programme covers;

  • Future challenges: aging populations, complex needs, disability and death
  • Contemporay solutions: evidence-based integrative approaches
  • Rehabilitative Palliative Care: principles, practices and cost effectiveness
  • What matters to you: the start of a culture shift
  • Interdisciplinary vs multidisciplinary working: the difference and why it matters
  • Specialist roles and shared roles: foundations for respect, value and collaboration
  • Needs-based leadership: harnessing the strengths of your team
  • Joint working: targeting efficiencies between teams, specialisms and partners
  • Motivations and frustrations: tapping into your personal drivers
  • Culture change: bringing your team culture into the spotlight
  • Strategic Action Planning: moving from concepts to implementation

Rebecca Tiberini

Rebecca Tiberini is an international consultant and coach and the founder of the EVOLVE Programme. Tired of constant discussions about the ‘problems’ facing palliative care teams, Rebecca created the EVOLVE…
Read More Rebecca Tiberini

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

“Collaborative and creative, truly interdisciplinary with ‘what matters most’ at its core.” – Therapy Lead

“It has allowed me to reflect on what improvements we need to make on both an organisational and a personal level to provide the highest level of care to our patients.” – Doctor

‘I really thought interdisciplinary was another word for multidisciplinary until I attended the course, have learnt so much.’ – Ward Manager

“Chance to take time out, reflect and learn and go back enthused and ready to lead change.” – Occupational Therapist

“A fantastic opportunity to learn as a team, to network, and to enhance understanding of interdisciplinary and rehabilliative palliative care.” – Nurse

“It wasn’t about coming up with something huge – it was about having the space to think.” – Physiotherapist

‘Energising, thought provoking and collaborative’ – Care Home Manager