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CARE Course Topic: End of life care

Introduction to the Principles of Palliative Care

This module is currently available on an introductory offer of £45 for three modules, including Nurse Verification of Expected Adult Death and Sensitive Conversations (free for South East London professionals)

Buy now – 3 modules for £45

What will I learn?

  • The definition of palliative care and its key concepts;
  • the history and development of modern palliative care;
  • the potential future challenges and changes in the field of palliative and end of life care.

Who is it for?

All health and social care professionals wanting to know more about the principles of palliative care.

What will the course look like?

We have created an on demand module suitable for all health and social care professionals wanting to learn more about the principles and key concepts of palliative care.

Multi-Professional Academy (MPA)

Multi-Professional Academy (MPA) is a five day intensive learning event focused on understanding and preparing attendees to implement rehabilitative palliative care in their settings.

To book we have a simple electronic form below for you to complete (in the ‘Applications’ tab – please scroll down). We look forward to hearing from you.

Potential attendees

This multi professional week seeks to draw in a broad range of individuals who are keen to advance their practice or that of their colleagues to reflect the principles of rehabilitative palliative care.  If you are an allied health professional (physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech and language therapist or dietician), then this will be of interest to you.  In addition, we are keen to draw in social workers, chaplains, nurses and doctors. We also welcome organisational leaders who are interested to develop the values, philosophy of care, facilities and skills of their workforce to take advantage of the benefits offered by Rehabilitative Palliative Care.

In an ideal world teams of two to three individuals from any single organisation or region will attend together. The programme provides ongoing opportunity in the course of the week to establish an action plan for implementation of Rehabilitative Palliative Care.

Apply online to attend MPA

You must complete this form:

Background

There is little doubt that individuals and societies around the world call for greater attention to people’s wellbeing and sense of identity, regardless of their age or how close they are to death. Retaining physical functionality and the opportunity for self-determination is central to an individual’s quality of life and vital to their experiences of dignity, comfort and self-determination. As people live longer with conditions such as frailty, additional effort is required on the part of health and social care professionals and other carers to help people identify what is most important to them and find every opportunity to enable them to achieve these goals as they come towards the end of their life.

We call this Rehabilitative Palliative Care and have been honing this approach at St Christopher’s for nearly a decade. It is not merely the opportunity of allied health professionals. Indeed, it is everyone’s business and its success depends on buy-in and enactment by families and neighbours alongside a broad range of professionals, supported also by organisational recognition and investment.

Details of the programme

We expect participants to attend all five days of the programme. During that time we will be focusing on:

  • Introducing rehabilitative palliative care, its holistic focus and why it is important now
  • Identity and wellbeing within palliative and end of life care – and how we work to address these important notions
  • Person centred goal setting across the multi disciplinary team – how to do it and why
  • Organisational change to support rehabilitative palliative care and its values/philosophy
  • Top tips for leading change to introduce rehabilitative palliative care

In the course of the programme you will have opportunities to see rehabilitative palliative care in practice and how it is integrated into the day to day work of St Christopher’s. We will also provide opportunities for you to talk to colleagues who have led on this work for inpatients and people living at home.

Learning outputs/outcomes

By the end of the course participants can expect to:

  1. Enjoy an in-depth understanding of the concept of rehabilitative palliative care
  2. Appreciate its value in relation to contemporary requirements for palliative care
  3. Understand its application to a variety of people who are approaching the end of life and those supporting them, in a number of different contexts including home, care homes, inpatient units
  4. Realise the value and how rehabilitative palliative care can be adopted in low, middle and high income countries
  5. Integrate intentions to support organisational change alongside practice development related to rehabilitative palliative care
  6. Have generated a detailed action plan to guide implementation in a local setting

The style of learning will be highly interactive. Confidence to learn and contribute in English will be important for participants who are keen to maximise the value of attending.

Dates

This course will run between the 9th and 13th October 2023. Sessions focused on elements of rehabilitative palliative care will be available. A celebration of learning, including the funders will take place in the afternoon of the 13th.

We set this date to fit with a global conference that a partner organisation Palliative Care Works runs annually. This year their conference will run on Saturday 14th October in Oxford. Participants attending Multi Professional Academy are warmly invited to attend either in person or virtually. The focus of the conference is around the delivery of palliative care education at an international level. More details about the organisation and its resources are here https://palliativecareworks.org

In the news

Friday visits for the public

Friday visits give the opportunity for everyone to learn more about St Christopher’s.

Our half day event explores how hospice and palliative care involves more than just institutions. Death and dying are part of the fabric of society, and as community members, we should all be able to make choices around end of life care.

During your visit you will tour St Christopher’s CARE and the hospice, meeting various members of the St Christopher’s team and you’ll get to take part in one of our creative arts sessions where we’ll have the opportunity to discuss death, dying and loss.

If you’ve ever wondered what goes on at St Christopher’s, this is your chance to find out in a relaxed, friendly environment.

We look forward to meeting you soon.

Do download our new History and Walking Tour App

ECHO sessions for care homes in South East London and Croydon

ECHO sessions for care homes in South East London and Croydon

We can provide support to set up and implement ECHO, a community of learning linking several care homes across our boroughs.

If you have any queries please email education@stchristophers.org.uk

Dates and topics for upcoming sessions can be found below.

ECHO session information 2023/24

DateTopic
Wednesday 18 October 2023,
2.30-4pm		Mouth Care
Wednesday 15 November 2023,
2.30-4pm		Recognising and managing pain 
Wednesday 13 December 2023,
2.30-4pm		Communication: Breaking bad news, talking about
death and ACP for people with learning disabilities.
Wednesday 24 January 2024,
2.30-4pm		Cultural and religious needs in relation to palliative care
Wednesday 21 February 2024,
2.30-4pm		Agitation, delirium and distressed behaviours
Wednesday 20 March 2024,
2.30-4pm		End of Life Case Study (Participants may also bring
their own experiences to discuss)

                              

DateTopic
Wednesday 27 September 2023,
2.30–4pm		Recognising depression in people living with dementia
Wednesday 25 October 2023,
2.30–4pm		Pressure ulcers:  prevention and dressings
Wednesday 22 November 2023,
2.30–4pm		Communication with families in the residents
dying phase
Thursday 14 December 2023,
2.30–4pm		Spiritual and Cultural Care of Residents in a
Care Home
Wednesday 31 January 2024,
2.30–4pm		Prevention and Management of falls
Wednesday 28 February 2024,
2.30–4pm		Communication in residents with dementia
Wednesday 27 March 2024,
2.30–4pm		Behaviours that challenge: Residents and relatives
Wednesday 4 October 2023,
2.30–4pm		Pain in Dementia: a potential cause of agitation
Wednesday 1 November 2023,
2.30–4pm		Advanced Care Plan: how to approach discussions
with families
Wednesday 6 December 2023,
2.30–4pm		Bereavement support to families and staff
Wednesday 10 January 2024,
2.30–4pm		Palliative Care and EoL policies: duties and rights
Wednesday 7 February 2024,
2.30–4pm		Conversations about DNACPR
Wednesday 6 March 2024,
2.30–4pm		Recognising deterioration in frailty and elderly people

Dates

Wednesday 11 October 2023,
2.30–4pm		Diabetes in Palliative Care
Wednesday 8 November 2023,
2.30–4pm		The pharmacological and non-pharmacological
management of breathlessness
Wednesday 7 December 2023,
2.30–4pm		Advanced Care Plan: how to approach discussions
with residents and families
Wednesday 17 January 2024,
2.30–4pm		UTI and sepsis. How to recognise and treat
Wednesday 14 February 2024,
2.30–4pm		Family Support when the resident is approaching the
dying phase
Wednesday 13 March 2024,
2.30–4pm		Prevention and management of pressure wounds          

Date Topic 
Thursday 12 October 2023
2.30–4pm 		Heart Failure at End of Life
Thursday 16 November 2023
2.30–4pm 		Catheter Care
Thursday 11 January 2024
2.30–4pm 		Resilience
Thursday 15 February 2024
2.30–4pm 		Reality of hospital admissions for
dementia patients
Thursday 14 March 2024
2.30–4pm 		Risk Feeding

Using a hub-and-spoke model, care home staff are facilitated to present real cases for discussion and learning.

The ECHO team works closely with clinical nurse specialists and other members of the wider multidisciplinary team. The curricula for educational sessions are decided by care homes.

Your ECHO facilitators:

Gill Early

Gill Early

Gill started her career in a Croydon nursing home at the age of 16 years old. She trained as a nurse, graduating as a Registered General Nurse in 1986.
Read More Gill Early
Hannah Louks

Hannah Louks

Hannah is a Clinical Nurse Specialist at St Christopher’s Hospice, caring for those at end of life in the Bromley community.  She has recently started a secondment within CARE as…
Read More Hannah Louks

Who are ECHO sessions for?

These are for care homes in South East London and Croydon.

If you want to find out more about our additional Care Homes offering please see our Help for Care Homes information.

Skills for Care Registered Managers Network Meeting

In conjunction with Skills for Care, these meetings are held three times a year for teaching on specific topics and a Skills for Care update. Open to all Care Home Managers.

These Registered Managers Network meetings are in conjunction with Skills for Care and are available to all care homes. We are looking forward to welcoming you. Please check back for session topics.

These will take place 10am – 12.30pm at St Christopher’s CARE in Sydenham. Lunch will be provided after the meeting.

Upcoming dates:

  • Tuesday 27th February 2024

Independent Prescribers – Community of Practice

April 2023 saw the relaunch of our community of practice for prescribers. We asked Fiona Hodson and Mary Watson to tell us more about the new programme and why you should join this community. You can read their blog here.

Sessions take place online on Zoom and run from 2 – 4pm. Dates and topics below.

What will I learn?

This year’s topics:

  • Thursday 13 April: Prescribing for people with Parkinson’s Disease
  • Thursday 8 June: Prescribing in Complex Pain, including use of NSAID and advance pain assessments
  • Thursday 20 July: Prescribing in Nausea & Vomiting / Anti- emetics
  • Thursday 14 September: Sedation and Ethics
  • Thursday 16 November: Prescribing in Dementia
  • Thursday 11 January 2024: Innovations in palliative care prescribing, new drugs/ off licence medications and use of cannabinoids

What will the Community of Practice look like?

This annual membership programme provides a monthly 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.

Who is it for?

This annual subscription will be of interest to nurse and pharmacist independent prescribers working in palliative care.

Tutors

Fiona Hodson

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
Mary Watson

Mary Watson

Associate Consultant Nurse 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 currently works within the community team at Orpington. She started her nursing career as a Healthcare Assistant 22 years ago – 9 months into this post she applied for nurse training. It was during this that she found her passion for palliative care and knew it was the area she would like to specialise in. Mary qualified as a nurse in 2006 and worked on an acute medical ward. To…
Read full profile Mary Watson

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

Outline

The COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus the importance of end of life care, across all settings.

This three-day introduction provides all registered nurses, nursing associates and allied health professionals, with the essential building blocks to support patients and their families at the end of life, in the community, acute hospitals, primary care, hospices, prisons and care homes.

Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss, evaluate and increase their knowledge, skills and confidence in relation to end of life care.

This is course consists of three in-person days at St Christopher’s CARE in Sydenham, London.

You will be provided with access to our Online Learning Platform which will be available for three months for you to view resources from the course.

What will I learn?

On completion of this course you will:

  • Have increased confidence and skills in end of life care
  • Be aware of national and local resources and services available
  • Explore barriers and difficulties that may be encountered at a personal, professionals and service level
  • Develop communication skills and confidence to deal with challenging questions around dying
  • Develop skills in symptom and pain control
  • Identify areas for development within your own practice and apply learning from the course to optimise those areas.

On completion of the course you will receive a certificate of attendance.

Who is it for?

This course is aimed at all Registered Nurses, Nursing Associates and Allied Health Professionals working in any setting.

Attendees from the November 2023 course gave this feedback:

“[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.”

We also run a two-day course for health and social care assistants.

Supported by visiting lecturers and clinicians

Deborah Holman

Deborah Holman

Deborah Holman has been working at St Christopher’s since 2002 in clinical practice, in care homes and in education. For 8 years prior to this she worked closely with St Christopher’s as a district nurse with a keen interest in caring for people who chose to die at home. From 2012 – 2019 Deborah, alongside others set up St Christopher’s Personal Care Service and worked as the Registered Manager delivering integrated health and social care in people’s homes to those who were frail elderly, having long term conditions and those in the last year of life. Deborah has been involved in…
Read full profile Deborah Holman

Principles and Practice of Palliative and End of Life Care for Health and Social Care Assistants

This two-day course provides Health and Social Care Assistants 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 two-day introduction provides all health and social care assistants with the essential building blocks to support patients and their families at the end of life, in the community, acute hospitals, primary care and care homes.

Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss, evaluate and increase their knowledge, skills and confidence in end of life care.

Our Online Learning Platform will be available for three months for you with all resources from the 2 days.

What will I learn?

On completion of this course you will:

  • Have increased confidence and skills in end of life care
  • Be aware of national and local resources and services available
  • Explore barriers and difficulties that may be encountered at a personal, professionals and service level
  • Develop communication skills and confidence to deal with challenging questions around dying
  • Develop skills in symptom and pain control.

On completion of the course you will receive a certificate of attendance.

Who is it for?

This course is suitable for all health and social care assistants working in any setting.

The first day of this course is free for HELP Care Home Partners.

Karen Duckworth

Karen Duckworth

Karen is a Clinical Nurse Specialist at St Christopher’s Hospice, caring for those at end of life in the Bromley community.  She has recently started a secondment within CARE as…
Read More Karen Duckworth

Nurse Verification of Expected Adult Death

This on demand module is designed to help all nurses working in any setting, feel more confident performing this task.

It is acknowledged that registered nurses ‘want to contribute to the care of the deceased by providing timely verification of expected death’ (Jo Wilson, National Nurse Consultant Group) and that nurses must have received appropriate training and be deemed competent before they undertake this task.

This module is currently available on an introductory offer of £45 for three modules, including Introduction to the Principles of Palliative Care and Sensitive Conversations (free for South East London professionals)

Buy now – 3 modules for £45

What will I learn?

  • What verification of death means
  • The importance of nurses undertaking this role
  • The professional and legal issues surrounding Nurse Verification of Expected Death and those occasions when nurses must not verify death
  • The process, equipment and documentation required
  • The role of the Coroner
  • Communication challenges
  • Issues related to competence and accountability.

Please note that this on demand module delivers theoretical training only. Delegates will need to be assessed in their workplace by someone able to assess competency in that environment.

Who is it for?

This on demand module is for registered nursing staff that have support to verify expected deaths in their workplace.

What will the course look like?

Verifying death is a critical part of end of life care, recognising that care doesn’t end when the person dies. Without verification, no further action can be taken, including necessary steps like informing relatives and organising the transfer to the mortuary or funeral directors. Delays also cause unnecessary distress to grieving families.

We’ve created an on demand module suitable for all Registered Nurses to help nurses feel more confident about performing this essential task which enables necessary steps like informing relatives and organising the transfer to the mortuary or funeral directors.

St Christopher’s Young Changemakers

Are you interested in changing the way things happen, do you have an idea about how to do it, or would you like to learn more about how communities and young people can be part of tackling community and end of life challenges?

At St Christopher’s we are keen to support people in the community who want to change things for the better. The end of life can have challenges for all of us and we want to improve people’s experiences of it. We don’t think that change is just for professionals to make, but that we all need to learn from and encourage each other to do this for it to happen.

We also think that young people are an important part of change-making, now and in the future, and so we’ve put together an exciting and interactive opportunity for young learners in our local community.

Young Changemakers is a summer school and leadership development programme for 16-18-year olds who are interested in helping in their community to support others and create change.

Over the course of 5 days we’ll work on considering how communities can support one another particularly with difficult experiences or on caring for one another. You’ll get to know other people who are keen to make a change in their community, learn from a range of people who support others, and also think about your goals ahead. We’ll have workshops and opportunities to think about your own personal development and see how change involves all of us.

You’ll also have the opportunity to meet health and social care professionals, and to develop skills and approaches that will be useful in future careers and across your life.

What will I learn?

Topics covered:

  • Yourself, self-care and resilience, how caring for ourselves helps us care for others
  • How to talk about important topics and express ourselves, and why that is good for us all
  • The role of communities and different professionals at healthcare organisations in taking care of others at the end of life
  • The importance of diverse communities, activism, and community leadership
  • The role young people can play in this
  • Change-making and how to make change in your communities

What will the course look like?

Applicants can apply for a five-day summer school programme or a year-long opportunity that will include the five days at the summer school but also run throughout the year as a leadership development opportunity. This longer opportunity aims to help students see themselves as leaders and contributors to change.

The summer five-day programme will be based at St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham, with one day spent in the community. During the week students will combine knowledge-based learning with practical and experiential learning. They’ll be asked to think about healthcare, the community, helping others and how we can be proactive and part of a collaborative effort to support one another with end of life experiences.

The year-long opportunity includes the five-day programme and also online and selected weekend mornings during the term which will be flexible and scheduled to meet the needs of attendees. There will be no more than five extra days in total of attendance expected. During this time participants will work on personal leadership, goals and development, particularly within the community.

Who is it for?

Young Changemakers is a summer school and leadership development programme for 16-18-year olds in full-time education who are interested in helping their community to support others and create change.

Please note that preference will be given to those living within the 5 London boroughs we serve: Lewisham, Croydon, Bromley, Lambeth and Southwark.

This course is subsidised by the generosity of a grant from Tallow Chandlers

Programme

  • Get to know each other and tell us about yourselves, and take part in creative arts sessions
  • Learn more about different healthcare approaches and how people work together to support people at the end of life
  • Think about communities and what they mean to us and how they help our wellbeing, and plan a social change campaign
  • Join a hosted study visit to organisations making change in the community

General Timetable for Young Changemakers Year-long Programme

  • Includes the above and also
  • Monthly one-hour peer mentoring sessions in the evening
  • Three weekend day sessions between October 2024 and March 2025
  • A celebration event in June 2025

Quality End of Life Care for All (QELCA)©

Five-day course at St Christopher’s followed by six work-based action learning sessions to be held monthly.

Further information

Liz Bryan
St Christopher’s CARE, 51-59 Lawrie Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 6DZ
Telephone: 020 8768 4711
Email: l.bryan@stchristophers.org.uk

Hospices and specialist palliative care units are a valuable learning resource for supporting and enabling generalists to improve patient care at end of life. The QELCA© programme is an innovation in end of life care education. It was originally designed by St Christopher’s Hospice, to empower teams of clinical nurse managers from acute, community or care home settings to lead on the delivery of high quality care to patients and families at the end of life. However, it is now being rolled out to other disciplines and settings.

QELCA© has been formally evaluated in partnership with the King’s Fund. A full evaluation report is available on request from Liz Bryan at l.bryan@stchristophers.org.uk. It has since been rolled out nationally to acute nurses in collaboration with Help the Hospices and NHS Improving Quality (formally the End of Life Care Programme). An executive summary of that evaluation report for 2012/13 is available here.

Liz Bryan

Liz Bryan

Liz is Education Senior Associate at St Christopher’s CARE. Previously she was the Director of Education and Training at St Christopher’s. Liz Bryan has a background in palliative care nursing,…
Read More Liz Bryan

MSc, Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate Certificate in Palliative Care

Overview

Kings College LondonThe MSc in Palliative Care course is intended for the future leaders of palliative and end of life care from multi-professional backgrounds (clinical care or teaching and research). The course will give you the skills necessary to critically appraise research and evidence on issues of palliative care to inform clinical practice and service development. Much of the work during the MSc will relate to your own personal work experience. This course draws on the research, expertise and international reputations of teaching staff at King’s College London and St Christopher’s Hospice. Other high profile experts in palliative care and other relevant disciplines and organisations also contribute to teaching.

We want to reflect the multi-professional nature of palliative care and provide an opportunity for different professionals to learn together. Past and present students include trainee doctors in palliative medicine, general practitioners, oncologists and anaesthetists, clinical nurse specialists in palliative care, community nurses, therapeutic radiographers, occupational therapists, social workers and music therapists. Previous overseas students have come from Europe (Denmark, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Switzerland) and from further afield (Hong Kong, India, Japan, Canada, South Africa, Uganda and the USA).

We promise the ‘cut and thrust’ of discussion among students and lecturers will always be exciting!

Programme content

The syllabus is arranged in modules each consisting of ten days taught tuition.

Core modules

  • Research methods and statistics in palliative care
  • Biology and management of symptoms in advanced disease
  • Service organisation and policy in palliative care
  • Psycho-social, cultural, ethical and spiritual issues

Optional modules

  • Advanced pain and symptom control
  • Service development and management
  • Advanced psycho-social, ethical and spiritual care
  • Applying epidemiology to palliative care

MSc research project

A research project (15,000 words) usually based on the analysis of original data you have collected in your place of work.

Flexible learning options

In addition to the MSc qualification, we also offer a Postgraduate Diploma and a Postgraduate Certificate. This enables you to access the MSc programme at a point that is relevant to your circumstances, achieve credits and leave at a point that specifically meets your needs. Work achieved at one level can be carried forward to the next level. A break from study can be taken providing the final qualification is completed within a five-year period from registration.

The successful completion of the core Research Methods and Statistics in Palliative Care module, plus two other modules achieves the Postgraduate Certificate in Palliative Care; four core modules and two optional modules achieves the Postgraduate Diploma in Palliative Care.

The addition of the completed research project achieves the MSc in Palliative Care.

Formal entry requirements

You should normally have a degree in medicine or nursing, or an upper second class honours degree in life sciences, social sciences, or other approved subject awarded by a United Kingdom university or a recognised overseas university. You should also be able to demonstrate experience of working in palliative care or palliative medicine – in clinical or social care, or from a practice or research point of view.

Further information or application forms

MSc Administrator
Department of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, King’s College London School of Medicine, Cicely Saunders Institute, Bessemer Road, London SE5 9PJ
Telephone 020 7848 5435
Fax 020 7848 5517
Email mscpallcare@kcl.ac.uk

Full details of the courses can be found on the Cicely Saunders Institute website at www.csi.kcl.ac.uk*

You can download a course information booklet at www.csi.kcl.ac.uk/booklet.html

Apply online at https://myapplication.kcl.ac.uk/

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

Background

People are living longer with complex comorbidities resulting in significant challenges for many healthcare systems around the world. Focusing education and training on the workforce who deliver the bulk of the care at end of life is often seen as one strategy to ensure that dying is managed by professionals with skill and compassion.

QELCA stands for Quality End of Life Care for All. The QELCA© programme is an innovation in end of life care education, designed by St Christopher’s to empower teams of clinicians from any setting or discipline to lead on the delivery of high quality care to patients and families at the end of life.

Hospice and specialist palliative care professionals have valuable skills for supporting and enabling generalists to improve patient care at end of life. If your organisation would like to become a QELCA© Satellite to deliver the QELCA© Programme to other organisations, please download the QELCA© Satellite flowchart which explains the process. The process begins by identifying at least two staff members to attend the QELCA© Train the Trainer Programme.

St Christopher’s will provide you with teaching resources and support throughout the delivery of your first QELCA© Programme. Learning will be assessed by academic assignment and submission of a portfolio of evidence.

Both programmes, QELCA© and QELCA© Train the Trainers are certified by St Christopher’s CARE.

View QELCA©  Satellites Flow Chart

What will I learn?

  • The rationale for the development of QELCA©
  • The theory underpinning the QELCA© approach to end of life care education
  • Evaluation data to date
  • The role of the QELCA© Trainer and strategies to overcome obstacles to effective delivery of the programme
  • The core elements of the QELCA© programme, how to deliver them and what resources to use

Successful completion of this assessed programme results in St Christopher’s CARE certification and entry on the St Christopher’s held register of QELCA© Trainers available to the public via St Christopher’s website. Please note that there are annual CPPD requirements to remain on the register.

Who is it for?

For specialist palliative care professionals from:

  • Medicine
  • Nursing
  • Psychology
  • Social work
  • Counselling
  • Allied health
  • Education

You must have:

  • A minimum of 3 years experience of working in palliative care
  • Support from employing organisation to deliver the QELCA© programme
  • The ability to attend all the training sessions
  • The ability to deliver the QELCA© programme in the next 6 to 12 months
  • The ability to successfully complete course assessments/assignments (at the equivalent of academic level 6) and practical activities.
Liz Bryan

Liz Bryan

Liz is Education Senior Associate at St Christopher’s CARE. Previously she was the Director of Education and Training at St Christopher’s. Liz Bryan has a background in palliative care nursing,…
Read More Liz Bryan

How can I find out more?

St Christopher’s exists to provide and promote skilled and compassionate end of life care of the highest quality. We aim to realise a society where all dying people and those close to them have access to the care and support they need, when and wherever they need it. We promote excellence in end of life care by delivering a range of training programmes to students from all over the world.

If you have any questions about this or any other of our courses, please contact the Professional Learning Team who will be happy to help.

Telephone 020 8768 4656
Email education@stchristophers.org.uk

Palliative And End Of Life Care Foundations

This module for registered nurses has been developed collaboratively between St Christopher’s and the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care at King’s College London (KCL) and can be taken as a 15-credit standalone module at Level 6 (degree level) or as an optional module for the BSc programme.​

This module explores the principles of palliative and end of life care, as applied in all care settings (hospices, acute hospitals, care homes and the community). It aims to equip nurses with the skills to complete an initial and ongoing assessment of the needs of a patient requiring palliative or end of life care, with regard to their physical, psychological, spiritual and cultural well-being. It will also explore and analyse the needs of the ‘family’ and the role of the nurse and multi-professional team in meeting these needs.

New dates tbc, please contact King’s for further information (details below).

Applications

For more information about this course and how to apply visit the King’s website or contact Dr Karen Gillett, E mail: Karen.Gillett@kcl.ac.uk

Palliative and End of Life Care Symptom Management

Applications

Student Services Centre (SSC), Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London, James Clerk Maxwell Building, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA

Telephone 020 7848 4698
Email nightingale@kcl.ac.uk

For all courses including this one please visit the King’s College London website:

Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (kcl.ac.uk)

Direct link to this course is here where you will also find contact details.

What will I learn?

This module aims to equip nurses to provide active holistic palliative care to patients with advanced progressive illness. It considers the role of the nurse in symptom management and the provision of physical, psychological, social and spiritual support in order to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients and their families.

Who is it for?

This course has been developed in collaboration with Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London (KCL) and can be taken as a 15-credit module at either level 6 or level 7. It is suitable for RNs working in any setting. However, it may be more applicable to those specialising in palliative care.

Course tutors

Course Leader: Karen Gillett Lecturer, King’s College London
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA
Telephone 020 7848 3741
Email karen.gillett@kcl.ac.uk

BSc Programme Lead: Lorraine Robinson Principal Lecturer, King’s College London

What will the course look like?

This module aims to equip nurses to provide active holistic palliative care to patients with advanced progressive illness. It considers the role of the nurse in symptom management and the provision of physical, psychological, social and spiritual support in order to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients and their families.

Teaching is provided by a combination of nurse lecturers from the university and by clinicians from St Christopher’s. It will run over two three-day blocks and will be assessed by a written assignment.

The first three days will be held at KCL, Waterloo Campus, and the remaining three days are held at St Christopher’s Hospice, Sydenham.

Discovery Days at St Christopher’s

We welcome professionals and others interested to gain insight into the work of St Christopher’s – focused on the past, present and the future.

Opportunities exist for visits – normally planned for a Friday, focused on a programme designed to be of particular value to professionals (particularly those working in the health and social care sectors). On alternate months, a similar opportunity exists for members of the general public.

The half-day programme for professionals outlines our history and founding principles, the care on offer today and how we are preparing for future challenges and opportunities.

During your visit you will tour both St Christopher’s Centre for Awareness and Response to End of Life (CARE) and the hospice and meet a variety of people involved in St Christopher’s who will guide your visit and explain the services we offer.

If you would like a programme that is more bespoke to your learning needs, opportunities exist to co-design a programme as part of a group visit. See here for more details.

You are invited to download our new History and Walking Tour App in preparation for your visit.

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