Following the success of the Lancet’s Commission on the Value of Death, The Future of Dying virtual conference, will take place on 21 June organised by St Christopher’s Hospice. This half day conference will continue to examine how this crucial piece of work can inform best practice around the world, creating a global network for change.
The Future of Dying will build upon the Commission’s findings, and work through the five principles outlined in ‘The Realistic Utopia,’ exploring how they interlink and connect to inform and shape care in dying. Each principle will be discussed by a keynote speaker and illustrated by a case study.
“The aim of this conference is about putting the high-level principles of the realistic utopia from the Lancet Commission on the value of death into practice, in the UK and globally. The realistic utopia presents a new vision for death and dying, and by taking it forward, we can change the lives of people who are dying as well as their communities for generations to come. I hope this conference will become a stepping stone to future events where we can grow a global community where we can discuss, share and learn from each other.”
Dr Libby Sallnow, Co-author of the Value of Death and Senior Clinical Lecturer at St Christopher’s
We will be offering full bursary places for delegates from low- and middle-income countries. Please email saying how you meet this criteria to education@stchristophers.org.uk and we will be delighted to offer you one of these places.
All professionals, innovators and changemakers interested in the future of death, dying and bereavement in the UK and globally.
Please see below. In addition Dr Ros Taylor and Dr Seamus O’Mahony will also be speaking.
Dr Libby Sallnow is a palliative medicine consultant with CNWL NHS Trust in London, UK and is an honorary senior lecturer at St Christopher’s Hospice and the UCL Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department, UK. Her PhD explored the impacts of compassionate communities, she has published articles and book chapters in this field and co-edited the book “International perspectives on public health and palliative care” in 2011.
She has supported the development of the international movement in new public health approaches, is Vice President of Public Health Palliative Care International, Honorary Consultant at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Palliative Care in Kerala, India and the President of the Palliative Care Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Heather Richardson works as one of the Joint Chief Executives of St Christopher’s Hospice, London. She has previously 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 to St Christopher’s.
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. More recently, she has developed a research interest around public health and end of life care. She currently serves as an honorary professor in palliative care at Lancaster University.
In the past, she has received the International Palliative Nurse of the Year award issued by the International Journal of Palliative Nursing and other awards related to her role in innovation in healthcare.
Dr Rajagopal is the director of Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Science, the WHO Collaborating Center at Trivandrum and the founder-chairman of “Pallium India”.
His initiatives to remove regulatory barriers in availability of oral morphine for pain relief have contributed to simplification of narcotic regulations and amendment of the NDPS Act of India in 2014. His initiative has also contributed to the development of a Government policy on Palliative Care in the state of Kerala in 2008 and Government of India’s National Palliative Care Strategy in 2012.
The international organization “Human Rights Watch” honored him with Alison Des Forges award at Los Angeles in November 2014.
In 2017, a documentary film titled “Hippocratic: 18 experiments in gently shaking the world” based on Dr. Rajagopal’s contributions to palliative care was released by Moonshine Agency, Australia (http://hippocraticfilm.com/).
In 2018, Dr Rajagopal was honored with Padma Shri, the third highest civilian award given annually from Republic of India.
He is also the author of “Walk with the weary”.
Dr Afsan Bhadelia (she/her) is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Faculty at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Miami Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas. She is a health systems and disparities researcher focused on applying and translating complex systems theory and metrics science to examine social and structural determinants of health inequities, including related to chronic diseases (focusing on cancer and palliative care as tracers) and from a gender lens. Her transdisciplinary and justice-oriented research seeks to advance public discourse and community partnership in knowledge generation around health to promote value-based and citizen-driven priority-setting and implementation.
Dr. Bhadelia is a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death and the Lancet Commission on Cancer and Health Systems. She previously co-chaired the Taskforce on Women and Non-Communicable Disease, lead co-authored the report of the Lancet Commission on Global Access to Palliative Care and Pain Relief, co-chaired the Commission’s Scientific Advisory Committee, and coordinated the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control.
The first in a series of events, The Future of Dying will bring together examples of the pioneering work already being done in the UK and internationally, connecting changemakers and innovators to embed the report’s recommendations into health and social care systems, communities, and ways of communicating.
Published in January 2022, the Lancet’s Commission on the Value of Death outlined how our relationship with death and dying needs rebalancing. It suggested that the best way to do this is by resetting the relationships and partnerships between people who are dying, families, communities, health and social care systems, and the broader civic society.
09:25 – 09:30 Online room open
09:30 – 09:40 Welcome from Dr Libby Sallnow and Heather Richardson
Session 1 – Dying is understood to be a relational and spiritual process rather than simply a physiological event
09:40 – 09:45 Scene setting – Prof. Heather Richardson
09:45 – 09:55 Commissioner Perspective – Professor Rajagopal
09:55 – 10:05 Case Study
10:05 – 10:15 Q&A
Session 2 – Conversations and stories about everyday death, dying and grief become common
10:15 – 10:20 Scene setting – Prof. Heather Richardson
10:20 – 10:30 Commissioner perspective – Dr Ros Taylor
10:30 – 10:40 Case Study
10:40 – 10:50 Q&A
10:50 – 11:00 Break
Session 3 – Networks of care lead support for people dying, caring and grieving
11:00 – 11:05 Scene setting – Prof. Heather Richardson
11:05 – 11:15 Commissioner perspective – Dr Libby Sallnow
11:15 – 11:25 Case Study
11:25 – 11:35 Q&A
Session 4 – Death is recognised as having value
11:35 – 11:40 Scene setting – Prof. Heather Richardson
11:40 – 11:50 Commissioner perspective – Dr Seamus O’Mahony
11:50 – 12:00 Case Study
12:00 – 12:10 Q&A
12:10 – 12:20 Break
Session 5 – The social determinants of death, dying and grief are tackled
12:20 – 12:25 Scene setting – Prof. Heather Richardson
12:25 – 12:35 Commissioner perspective – Dr Afsan Bhadelia
12:35 – 12:45 Case Study
12:45 – 12:55 Q&A
12:55 – 13:10 Thank you and looking to the future – Dr Libby Sallnow and Prof. Heather Richardson
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
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