The Multi Professional Academy (MPA) run by St Christopher’s CARE draws together a broad and rich community of individuals who work together over the course of a week to share knowledge and experience. This year we hope to run it in person at St Christopher’s, focused specifically on hospice care fit for the future.
Our aim for MPA 2022 is to attract and work with participants who want to address contemporary challenges of delivering hospice care in the contexts in which they work. They will enjoy support from a global support network of like-minded professionals in this effort.
Our five-day programme offers structured conversations and facilitation that will enable participants to reflect on their own care setting and create a plan for the implementation of their learning into practice. We will provide opportunities for participants to engage with senior hospice clinicians and other related experts. The programme also offers access to online and other resources beyond time at St Christopher’s.
Bursaries are available to support learners from low- and middle-income countries where it is clear that they can bring richness to the learning of the group and gain insights of value to them when they return to their country.
There are a limited number of places available for MPA and early booking is advised.
To apply, please download, complete and email the application form to the Education Team. All applications must be completed in full and, once received, will be assessed by a multi-professional panel.
There are six bursary places available which cover the full costs – please see application form for full details.
Please complete the bursary application form and send to education@stchristophers.org.uk
The closing date is Monday 8th August 5pm and you will hear if you have been successful within the week.
Bursary students will complete a clinical placement at the hospice 17-21 October.
In the course of the programme we will explore:
You will have an opportunity to:
A further opportunity exists for participants to attend a conference held by Palliative Care Works, a charity focused on global development of palliative care. Further information is available about this on application.
This programme will be of most interest to individuals who are working in organisations that describe themselves as hospices or who are involved in planning, organising or delivering hospice care. In addition, there will be useful insights for those involved in palliative care beyond that provided by hospices, including those who want to explore the interface of hospice with broader systems of health and social care or that created around death.
The programme is aimed at leaders/those aspiring to shape or lead hospice services. We welcome individuals who are interested to discuss challenges that they face, with a view to working with peers to explore options for their resolution.
Programme leads include:
Dr Heather Richardson is Education, Research and Policy Lead, St Christopher’s, Honorary Professor at Lancaster University and Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford University.
Heather Richardson previously worked as a Joint Chief Executive of St Christopher’s Hospice, London. In the past she held the role of National Clinical Lead for Hospice UK, and worked as Clinical Director, then Strategy Advisor to St. Joseph’s Hospice in East London prior to her move at St Christopher’s. She has also worked as an associate with the Innovation Unit based in London.
Heather is a registered general and mental health nurse and has worked in hospice/palliative care since 1988. She has a PhD, her research concerned with users’ experience of day hospice.
Dr Alison Landon is a palliative care physician at St Christopher’s Hospice, Sydenham, London. She graduated from the University of Leicester in 1996 and began her medical career in General Practice. She then decided to pursue palliative medicine and has worked in this specialty since 2000.
Alison spent 8 years working in Romania developing palliative care services, primarily supporting the development of the country’s first inpatient unit in Brasov and education programmes around the country.
She returned to the UK in 2010 and has worked at St Christopher’s hospice since then, initially as a Specialty doctor and now working as a Consultant. She has clinical commitments in the inpatient and community settings, supports junior doctors training in palliative medicine and is involved in local, national and international training programmes.
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 including St George’s Hospital in Tooting where she specialised in medical oncology, rehabilitation and palliative care. She has lectured and taught nationally and internationally at undergraduate degree level as well as to qualified members of the multidisciplinary team on study days, conferences and bespoke training sessions.
In 2018 she achieved an MSc from City University of London in Voluntary Sector Management and Hospice Leadership, which included a portfolio of evidence covering hospice leadership issues, optimal positioning of hospices in the future, and identification of key stakeholders and strategic partners.
Currently at St Christopher’s Helena leads all the rehabilitation and wellbeing services – this includes allied health professionals (physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapy, dietetics), and assistants, complementary therapists, social workers, art and music psychotherapists, cognitive behavioural therapists and welfare officers. She is particularly interested in developing the role of rehabilitation in palliative care, and promoting the multi-disciplinary ethos of rehabilitative palliative care.
Are you interested to join a week-long learning programme with individuals from around the world to explore the potential of hospice care moving forward?
We, at St Christopher’s CARE believe that the world has changed significantly in the course of the last few years. Regardless, hospice care has something important to bring to those that are dying and face loss, the many different people involved in their care and how this is organised and sustained in the future.
Through conversations, reflections and ideas generated by a multi professional group working together, we will generate propositions about new opportunities for hospice that would serve to position it well in health, social care and death systems in the coming years and help leaders prepare for such opportunities. We promise provocation, enthusiasm and access to a wide variety of expertise.
This course will give learners:
This course also has a strong social element after each day’s learning with informal gatherings – previous attendees have really valued this aspect of the course.
If you have any questions about this or any of our other courses, please contact the Education team who will be happy to help
At St Christopher's, a registered charity, it is important for us to maximise any surpluses to reinvest in the objectives of the charity.
Unfortunately, the manner in which we undertake our training currently means we are not able to invest as much of our surplus as possible, therefore from the 1 December 2017, St Christopher’s Education Centre will charge VAT at the standard rate on our training courses, the reason for this change in pricing is twofold:
i) We want to be able to reinvest any surpluses made from training back into all of our charitable objectives rather than only Education
ii) We want to be able to reclaim the VAT on costs relating to developing and running the training courses