- SPPC’s response to the Long Term Conditions Strategy Consultation
- SPPC Achievements 2024-25
- Annual Conference 2025: From System Holes to Whole System
- Call for Posters
- Assisted Dying Bill - Perspectives Informed by Palliative Care
News
Changes to regional groups
Following a review and discussions with members of the SPPC's three Regional Constituency Groups, significant changes are being made to the operation of these groups.
The changes are being made with the aim of ensuring that the Partnership continues to effectively engage and exchange information, but in a way which is less time and resource intensive, and which reflects the emergence of local Managed Clinical Network (MCN) or equivalent structures in recent years.
The changes will include:
- the creation of a dedicated web space to support virtual regional groups.
- liaising with relevant local NHS palliative care groups regarding how to receive and cascade information through their existing mailing lists, and to establish a timetable for periodic attendance at local meetings by SPPC staff.
Approval for appropriate amendments to be made to the SPPC’s articles of association will be sought at the next AGM meeting in August, after which terms of reference for regional groups can be amended at the subsequent Council meeting.
Effective engagement and exchange of information and opinion remains central to the SPPC’s purpose and effectiveness, and the new arrangements are designed to support these processes.
Conference programme announced
We are pleased to announce the publication of the programme for this year's SPPC Annual Conference: Choices and Decisions Towards the End of Life.
The conference will take place on Wednesday 17th September 2014 at the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh.
Featuring a mix of high quality speakers and delegate interaction the event will provide:
- an opportunity for learning relevant to practice and workplace
- a chance to network and to share information and good practice
- challenging perspectives and energising inspiration
Download a full programme here. To book online and for more information about group and member discounts available, click here: weblink.
Topics and speakers include:
How can improvement science make NHS Scotland safer and more compassionate?
Prof Jason Leitch, Clinical Director, The Quality Unit, Scottish Government
Scotland’s Patient Safety Programme has a growing international reputation. What are the keys to its success and how can similar approaches also make the NHS more compassionate?
The Liverpool Care Pathway - What have we learned which should guide the future?
Contributors will include: Helen Jamieson, Head of Media Relations, Wellcome Trust, Dr Deans Buchanan, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, NHS Tayside, Prof Bridget Johnson, Professor of Palliative and Supportive Care, University of Nottingham and Prof Craig White, Divisional Clinical Lead, Quality Unit, Scottish Government. The session will include lay / public voices.
As the LCP is phased out, what lessons have we learned - about the media, about public expectations, about the health and care system, about providing care and about ourselves? Brief presentation from different perspectives will punctuate an exploration of these questions, with a panel and opportunity for delegate questions, opinions and polling.
What can decision theory bring to decision making towards the end of life?
Prof Carl Thompson and Dr Kate Flemming, University of York
Using a mixture of theoretical framework and case study this talk will explore how, in clinical practice, we deal with uncertainty, exercise judgement and make decisions, including some common pitfalls and top tips.
Setting goals to live well
Dr Sally Boa, Talking Mats and Strathcarron Hospice
Goal setting with patients is often recommended as a mechanism to achieve high quality patient-centred care. However, this seemingly straightforward activity is often challenging to deliver in practice. This talk will describe award-winning research into a practical intervention.
“The adventure of death”: Reflections on palliative care, death and dying in World War I
Dr Sally Lawton, Senior Lecturer in Palliative Care (Nursing), NHS Grampian
In September 1914, during the Battle of Aisne, the first trenches were dug in France. On the centenary of that event, this talk will reflect on lessons, parallels and echoes of the Great War.
Download a full programme here.
To book online and for more information about group and member discounts available, click here: weblink.
Creating new traditions of remembrance
Get involved in a new festival of storytelling and remembrance being initiated by Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief this November...
People who have died remain a part of our lives – their stories are our stories, yet many Scottish traditions relating to the expression of loss and remembrance have faded over time.
To Absent Friends, a People's Festival of Storytelling and Remembrance is an opportunity to revive lost traditions and create new ones. Held for the first time from 1-7 November 2014, To Absent Friends will give people across Scotland an excuse to remember, to tell stories, to celebrate and to reminisce about people we love who have died.
Unlike most festivals, events that take place as part of To Absent Friends are not bound by a particular time or venue. To Absent Friends will happen across Scotland - in public spaces, over social media, among friends, families and communities, and in people's minds and hearts.
If you like the idea of To Absent Friends, join in and help establish a new national institution. Organise something big or small, celebratory or reflective, share it or keep it private.
Find out more and get involved here: To Absent Friends You can keep up-to-date on Twitter here: @2AbsentFriends
Responses to Assisted Suicide Bill consultations
The SPPC has submitted responses to two consultations related to the proposed Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill.
The SPPC has published a response to the Health & Sport Committee’s call for evidence in relation to the Bill, and also responded to the Finance Committee Questionnaire on the Financial Memorandum relating to the Bill.
The Hidden Worlds of Caring and Serious Illness
Three new short films entitled “At Home with Illness” have been launched to mark Carers Week 2014. The gritty films take an unflinching look at what happens when serious illness arrives in a family.
Although this situation affects thousands in Scotland the lives of people who are seriously ill are largely hidden, and so too are the sometimes harsh realities of those who care for them. 1 in 8 of the Scottish population are involved in providing care and support to a family member. Around 40, 000 people each year in Scotland will die after a period of protracted illness.
Filmed intimately at home, three very different families tell their own powerful and individual stories of love, loss, crisis, tears, hope and laughter. One of the 3 films, “The Long Goodbye” has already become a word-of-mouth success on YouTube. All three films have been commissioned by a consortium of national charities, led by the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care (SPPC).
Mark Hazelwood, Chief Executive of SPPC, said:
“We wanted to lift the lid on a hidden world – the world of families living with serious illness. This is a world in which thousands of Scottish families exist, yet their experiences are seldom seen or heard. This leaves society ill-equipped to support others and ill-prepared should the same situation affect us. The films allow the families to tell it how it is, and there are lessons for everyone in the stories they tell.”
Organisations involved in the commissioning of the films include: Marie Curie Cancer Care, MND Scotland, MS Society Scotland, MSA Trust, Parkinson’s UK and PSP Association.
The films can be viewed here: At home with illness
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