Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care: Update

Welcome to Update, a monthly roundup of news relevant to palliative care in Scotland, brought to you by the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care.

Policy

Update on Strategic Framework for Action

The Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport has written a letter to the Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee in response to their letter requesting information in relation to progress with implementation of the Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End-of-life care.

Realising Realistic Medicine

Dr Catherine Calderwood, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland has published her Annual Report for 2015/15, entitled Realising Realistic Medicine.

Scottish Government health, social care and sport strategies announced

In a letter to the Health and Sport Committee , the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing has outlined the Government's plans for publication of new strategies on a variety of health, social care and sport related issues over the next year.

£7.5 million investment to support GPs

The Scottish Government has announced an investment of £7.5 million to support GP practices to work more closely across their local area.

National Health and Social Care Workforce Planning: Discussion Document

The Scottish Government has published a Discussion Document which seeks comments and views from individuals and organisations about the issues the National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan will need to cover. It sets out ideas on workforce planning at national, regional and local level and asks questions about a number of key areas, including governance, workforce planning roles, workforce data and recruiting and retaining staff. The consultation closes on 28 March 2017.

Parliamentary Questions

Parliamentary questions raised in the Scottish Parliament relating to palliative care include the following:

Question S5W-06586: Alison Johnstone

To ask the Scottish Government what statutory (a) training is and (b) qualifications are required for social care workers who support terminally-ill people.

Question S5W-06590: Alison Johnstone

To ask the Scottish Government how many terminally-ill people under 65 have had social care charges waived in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority.

Question S5W-06589: Alison Johnstone

To ask the Scottish Government how many DS 1500 forms to allow terminally-ill people to claim personal independence payments were issued by each NHS board in each of the last five years.

Question S5W-06587: Alison Johnstone

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on each of the recommendations in the Marie Curie report, Dying to Care, and how it plans to take these forward.

Question S5W-06151: Anas Sarwar

To ask the Scottish Government what funding has been given to hospices for palliative care needs in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board area.

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Practice

Launch of ReSPECT

The Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment (ReSPECT) launches today. This is a UK-wide initiative to support Anticipatory Care Planning (ACP) and the ACP process.

ReSPECT is a process that creates personalised recommendations for a person’s clinical care in a future emergency in which they are unable to make or express choices. It provides health and care professionals responding to that emergency with a summary of recommendations to help them to make immediate decisions about that person’s care and treatment. ReSPECT can be complementary to a wider process of advance/anticipatory care planning.

It is not planned to adopt ReSPECT immediately in Scotland, but a trial implementation of the ReSPECT process in a single health board later this year is being considered. More information about ReSPECT, particularly in the Scottish context is available on the Living Well in Communities website.

Update on the new National Health and Social Care Standards

The latest Update bulletin on the progress towards the development of new National Care Standards - or the new National Health and Social Care Standards as they are called – is now available.

Sharing Scottish practice

Developing a Model for Pharmaceutical Palliative Care in Rural Areas—Experience from Scotland

This paper by Gazala Akram, Emma Dunlop Corcoran, Alison MacRobbie, Gill Harrington and Marion Bennie describes the experience of developing a model to deliver pharmaceutical palliative care in rural Scotland via the MacMillan Rural Palliative Care Pharmacist Practitioner project. (Pharmacy 2017, 5(1), 6; doi:10.3390/pharmacy5010006)

Poster Abstracts of the month

The SPPC Annual Conference in 2016 featured 36 poster displays, sharing work and research underway across Scotland. Each month, our Sharing current Scottish Practice blog focuses on the content of a few of these posters. This month, we focus on:

The SPPC Sharing Current Scottish Practice blog provides an opportunity for people to share examples of current Scottish palliative care practice that might be of interest to the palliative care community more widely. If you know of work underway that might be relevant for sharing on our website, please get in touch.

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Academic and Research

PhD on bereavement experiences in prisons

The University of Strathclyde is advertising an opportunity to undertake a PhD on bereavement experiences in prisons. The closing date for applications is 20th March.

Vacancies at All Ireland Institute of Palliative Care

Health Agencies on the island of Ireland have announced a joint cross-border three year investment in palliative care research to grow clinical knowledge and improve patient experience. As a result of the funding, AIIHPC is now recruiting two new half-time Project Manager roles - a Palliative Care Research Network Project Manager and a Knowledge Transfer Project Manager. The Institute is also recruiting to fill a Programme Manager position. More details are available here: weblink

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Web News

Updated web pages for the Children’s Palliative Care Community

Some redevelopment work has been undertaken on the NES Children and Young People’s Services Managed Knowledge Network Children’s Palliative Care Community pages. The site will be monitored on a monthly basis to check validity of content and to add new additional content. It is hoped that the redeveloped site is a valuable and robust resource for all professionals working within the field of babies, children and young people’s palliative care in Scotland.

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Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care News

SPPC Strategy

The SPPC is currently in the final stages of developing its organisational strategy for the next three years. Comments are welcome until 12pm on Friday 3rd March. The draft strategy for comment can be viewed here: Draft SPPC Strategy

Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far, via our online survey and discussions at constituency group meetings or elsewhere. An analysis of our online survey is available here: SPPC stakeholder survey analysis.

Health & Sport Committee Inquiry into Preventative Agenda

We have submitted a response to the Scottish Parliament Health & Sport Committee's recent call for views on the Preventative Agenda.

Health & Sport Committee Inquiry into Healthcare in Prisons

We have submitted a response to the Scottish Parliament Health & Sport Committee's recent call for views on Healthcare in Prisons.

Changes to Council

We are pleased to welcome Professor Bridget Johnson and Dr Donald Macaskill to the SPPC Council. Bridget has been elected to Council from the West Regional Group (GG&C Health Board Area), and is Florence Nightingale Foundation Chair in Clinical Nursing Practice Research. Donald has been co-opted to Council, and is Chief Executive of Scottish Care.

SPPC Annual Conference

Next year's Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care Annual Conference will take place on Wednesday 20 September 2017 at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. More details will follow.

Events listings on the SPPC website

The SPPC website provides a space where organisations can list events of relevance to palliative care. You can add your event by filling in the online form here.

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Public and Patient Experience

GMC survey on patient experiences

As part of GMC work to update their guidance on consent, they have launched a survey to find out about patients’ experiences of discussing treatment and care decisions with doctors. They would be grateful for your help in promoting this to patients you work with as you are able. The survey is open until 19 March 2017.

Home palliative care works: but how? A meta-ethnography of the experiences of patients and family caregivers

(By Vera P Sarmento, Marjolein Gysels, Irene Higginson and Barbara Gomes.)This study aims to understand patients and family caregivers' experiences with home palliative care services, in order to identify, explore and integrate the key components of care that shape the experiences of service users.

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Other News

Trees that bend in the wind

Scottish Care has published a new report relating to the role of social care staff in palliative and end of life care. Trees that bend in the wind: Exploring the experiences of front line support workers delivering palliative and end of life care explores the views, experiences and values of social care staff.

Sue Ryder Human Rights publication and training

Sue Ryder has worked with the British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) to produce a Human Rights Guide to End of Life. They plan to provide free training to support care workers in developing greater understanding of how human rights provide a practical route for ensuring and promoting compassion and dignity in end of life care. To register an interest in accessing the training when it becomes available in Scotland, sign up here: weblink

4 Nations - Health Care Quality Indicators (HCQI) - Experimental Statistics

The lead health and social care government statistician groups in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have collaborated to produce an experimental statistics product. A selection of OECD indicators of health care quality are included for each of the four nations. The primary purpose for producing this product at this time is to invite user feedback, and in particular to receive comments on how the product might be developed further.

National End of Life Care Intelligence (England) Network e-alert

The National End of Life Care Intelligence Network has published its February e-alert.

Pushing up the Daisies Network Gathering – Bringing Death Home

Pushing up the Daisies is inviting people to attend a gathering of people from across Scotland who are interested in how we approach death and relate to our dead. On 11 March they are holding a day of learning and reflection on the purpose of tending and honouring the body of loved ones immediately after death. There will be input from different spiritual traditions and philosophies including the Celtic spiritual tradition.

In the media

The SPPC does not undertake a comprehensive media monitoring service. Listed below are some of the stories relevant to palliative and end of life care that have appeared in the media over the last month. For more media coverage relating to palliative and end of life care, check out the eHospice website.

The Herald: Care staff at ‘breaking point’ over end of life provision

The Scotsman: Jackie Husband: How a hospice can help you to die well

The Scotsman: Thousands of Scots miss out on end of life palliative care

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Courses and Events

SPPC Annual Conference

This year's Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care Annual Conference will take place on Wednesday 20 September 2017 at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. More details will follow.

MSN CYPC Education Day

3 March 2017, Dundee. More information is available here: weblink The theme of the day is Harnessing technology in health; improving cancer care for children and young people in Scotland.

Generations Working Together Conference

8 March 2017, Stirling. More information is available here: weblink.

Pushing up the Daisies Network Gathering – Bringing Death Home

11 March 2017, Forres. More information is available here: weblink.

Introduction to Tending the Body of a Loved One at Home after Death

Organised by Pushing up the Daisies. 12 March 2017, Forres. More information is available here: weblink.

Professor Anne Basting: lecture and creative storytelling for people working with older people with dementia

Organised by Luminate and Queen Margaret University. Prof Bastings will speak about how the arts can transform lives of older people and older people with dementia at a public lecture on Monday 13 March, and lead a creative storytelling training day for artists and care professionals working with older people with dementia on Tuesday 14 March. More information is available here: weblink.

Sharing ideas in bereavement and end of life care – an educational workshop for those working or supporting people in and through bereavement

22 March 2017, Glasgow. More information is available here: weblink or by contacting Diane Willis.

Palliative Care Research Society / Marie Curie Master Class:
Applying for funding for palliative care research

23 March 2017, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink.

Local Government Health & Social Care Breakfast Hustings

Organised by CHAS and Marie Curie. 28 March 2017, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink

The APM Supportive and Palliative Care Conference (ASP Conference)

30 and 31 March 2017, Belfast. More information is available here: weblink.

Safeguarding Adults with Incapacity

Organised by CPS Seminars Scotland, 28 April 2017, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink

Defining moments in children’s palliative care: Transforming the family experience

Organised by Together for Short Lifes, 10 & 11 May 2017, Birmingham. More information is available here: weblink.

Controlled Drugs: Safe Use, Prescribing and Management: Monitoring Adherence to the 2016 NICE Guidance

Organised by Healthcare Conferences UK. 11 May 2017, Birmingham. More information is available here: weblink or by emailing Nicki. A 20% discount is available by quoting ref: HCUK20SPPC when booking.

Continence Without Borders

Organised by the Association for Continence Advice. 22 - 23 May 2017, Belfast. More information is available here: weblink.

Paediatric Continence Workshop

23 May 2017, Belfast. More information is available here: weblink.

Change: The Health and Social Care Integration event

Organised by the ALLIANCE. 30 May 2017, Glasgow. More information is available here: weblink.

Palliative and end of life care in Scotland - commissioning, public awareness and delivering best practice

Organised by Scotland Policy Conferences. 25 May 2017, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink.

7th International Conference on Ageing and Spirituality

4-7 June 2017, Chicago. More information is available here: weblink.

Death at the Margins of the State

Organised by the Centre for Death and Society. 9-10 June, Bath. More information is available here: weblink

Tayside Palliative Care National Conference 2017

22 June 2017, Dundee. More information is available here: weblink.

5th International Public Health & Palliative Care Conference

17-20 September 2017, Ottawa, Canada. More information is available here: weblink.

New Directions in Palliative Medicine: Finding Strength: Challenges and Opportunities for Patients with Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders.

Organised by Strathcarron Hospice. 28 & 29 September 2017, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink.

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Marking 40 Years of Palliative Care

Organised by St Columba’s Hospice. 27 October 2017, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink.

Courses offered by St Columba’s Hospice

MSc in Palliative Care: Shadows & Horizons: Advancing Palliative Care Practice

Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care: Caring for the Patient & Family in Palliative Care

More information is available on the St Columba’s Hospice website.

Courses offered by St Margaret of Scotland Hospice

For more information about any of the courses below, please contact Margaret Donnelly, Programme Co-ordinator, St Margaret of Scotland Hospice, tel 0141 435 7017.

Symptom Assessment & Management

Starts 5 April 2017

Introduction to Palliative Care

Starts 16 August 2017

Loss, Grief & Bereavement

Starts 13 September 2017

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