Principles and Practice of Palliative and End of Life Care – Intermediate Three Day Course for Registered Professionals  

For Registered Nurses, Nursing Associates and Allied Health Professionals

St Christopher's CARE

Event overview

  • 17 Nov, 2026, 02 Feb, 2027
    Tue 17, Wed 18 & Wed 25 Nov
    Tue 2, Wed 3 & Wed 10 Feb
  • 3 days
  • 10am to 4.30pm
  • £470 plus VAT
  • Reduced rate for Care Home Learning Partners
  • Online or CARE

Book online

17 Nov, 2026 Virtual
02 Feb, 2027 In-person

Useful information

Two female nurses talking to each other

This three-day course provides nurses and Allied Health Professionals working in any setting with the essential building blocks to support patients and their families at the end of life.

What will the course look like? 

This three-day foundational course provides health and social care professionals who are registered with a professional body with the essential building blocks to support patients and families at the end of life. This includes a range of settings including: primary care, acute hospitals, the community and care homes.  

Our course embraces a multidisciplinary approach to support a truly holistic response to caring for people approaching the end of life. 

Our trainers bring together expertise from a range of professional backgrounds. While we acknowledge and speak directly to the unique contributions of individual professions during our sessions, we remain grounded in the core value of effective Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) working. 

The diagram below highlights the five key principles that form the foundation of our course: 

A diagram of the Five Principles
(diagram adapted from Richardson and Cooper, 2024)

This course is for registered professionals working in the health and social care sector (for example a nurse, Allied Health Professional, doctor, registered manager of a care home etc).

This course enables you to build on foundational knowledge of how to provide person-centred, high quality end of life care. You are likely to work in an environment where you will encounter individuals who need such support, such as Care Homes, primary care, social work etc. 

What is Palliative Care? You will be able to explain the history of palliative care including reference to the World Health Organisation definition and NICE guidelines. You will understand the concept of holistic assessment in end of life. You will explore the concept of personhood applied to people with incurable illnesses. 

You will the foundations in communicating with people at the end of their life and their families, particularly in event of them expressing strong emotions. You will be able to support team members who have encountered challenging conversations.  

You will understand how to initiate conversations regarding advance care planning, how and where to document these.  You will understand the legal aspects and key terms such as Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) and Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR). You will consider the barriers of advance care planning and how to address these. You will know the process of registering a death and the legal practicalities involved. 

You will be able to initiate conversations around what matters to individuals and to be able to set goals with individuals.  

You will understand physiological changes during dying and death. You will consider the five priorities of care of a dying person. You will explore care in the last weeks of life and last days of life including medicine management at end of life. You will understand and recognise common symptoms in palliative care. 

You will be able to recognise symptoms and how to report changes including identification of palliative care emergencies. You will understand and apply evidence-based management of pain, breathlessness, nausea and vomiting. You will recognise and can respond to common side effects of common medications at end of life and be able to judge when to initiate a syringe driver.  

You will recognise spiritual needs and how this can be expressed. You will be able to demonstrate how to support a person experiencing spiritual distress. You will reflect on your own spiritual framework and how this can impact on how we care.  

You will understand the diversity and normality of grief. You will be able to reflect on your own experiences of grief and bereavement and recognise and respond to cultural diversity in grief. You will explore models of grief and the concept of anticipatory grief. You will evaluate the difference between normal and prolonged or complicated grief. You will be able to plan support and signpost someone who is grieving to appropriate services.  

You will explore key terms such as equity, inclusion, intersectionality and recognise causes of health inequalities. You will gain an understanding of the current challenges in palliative and end of life care for diverse populations. You will explore factors that influence health inequalities and consider ways in which we can raise awareness to reduce barriers to accessing good quality palliative and end of life care. 

You will recognise stress in yourself and others and understand ways to support colleagues and create an effective working environment that is supportive and enhances wellbeing. You will understand how to prevent burnout and compassion fatigue and how to build personal resilience. You will understand the role of members of the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) in collaborative practice and support. You will reflect on your own experiences of loss and illness and how that impacts how you care for others. 

The next three-day course will be held virtually on Zoom:

  • Tuesday 17 November
  • Wednesday 18 November
  • Wednesday 25 November

We will then hold an in-person course in February 2027:

  • Tuesday 2 February
  • Wednesday 3 February
  • Wednesday 10 February

Previous attendees have said:

“[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.”

Book online now

17 Nov, 2026 Virtual
02 Feb, 2027 In-person

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

Why our education programme?

We have a well-established programme of high quality, cutting-edge, specialist palliative care education, designed for those working in the UK and internationally.

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