Health and Social Care standards

The Chief Medical Officer for Scotland has published a letter announcing that the new Health and Social Care Standards will be effective from 1 April 2018, replacing the National Care Standards.

Code of Practice for Continuing and Welfare Attorneys

The Scottish Government has published Code of Practice for Continuing and Welfare Attorneys Second Edition (Updated February 2018). The Code of Practice contains guidance for people who grant powers of attorney, or people who are appointed as attorneys under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000. The Code covers both continuing (financial) and welfare powers.

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Reflecting on PEOLC Identification Tools

Healthcare Improvement Scotland are inviting people to join them for a WEBEX to reflect on the tools available to support identification of people who need a palliative approach. The WEBEX takes place on Thursday 26 April at 12.30pm. To sign up, follow this link: weblink.

Sharing Current Scottish Practice

Strathcarron Hospice “Living Right up to the End” project

Strathcarron Hospice recently published a report of their Living right up to the end project. Susan High, Community Development Co-ordinator, Strathcarron Hospice, has kindly shared her reflections on the project on the SPPC blog space.

Poster abstracts of the month

The SPPC Annual Conference in 2017 featured 46 poster displays, sharing work and research underway across Scotland. Each month, this blog focuses on the content of a few of these posters. This month, we focus on six of these:

• A quality improvement approach to cognitive assessment on hospice admission: could we use the 4AT or Short CAM?
• A very expensive sticking plaster?
• Accessing Advanced Care Plans: what's in a Key Information Summary (KIS)?
• Adult and Children's Palliative Care Services Working Together to Transform Transitions through Trust and Innovation
• An Evaluation of the Lothian Palliative Care Redesign Programme
• An Innovative Approach To Community Nursing

A full list of posters from the 2017 SPPC Annual Conference is available here: Poster displays 2017.

Have you got practice worth sharing?

If you are involved in work that you would like to share in a blog for the SPPC, please get in touch.

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Patient and Public Involvement Event

The University of Glasgow is organising a patient and public involvement event, which takes place in Glasgow on 15 May. It is aimed at adults with a life-limiting condition and carers with experience of caring for someone with a life-limiting illness. The event will give people an opportunity to have their say on research projects that aim to improve quality of care for people with life-limiting illness.

Health and Care experience survey

The Scottish Government has published an analysis of free text comments given within the Health and Care Experience Survey 2015/16.

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Scottish Palliative Care Research Forum

The next meeting of the Scottish Palliative Care Research Forum will take place at 0930-1300 (coffee and registration at 0930-1000) on 16 May 2018, at Norton Park Conference Centre, St Mungo's Church, Edinburgh. For more information contact Prof Bridget Johnston.

Computer screening for palliative care needs in primary care: a mixed-methods study

Mason, B, Boyd K, Steyn J, Kendall M, Macpherson S and Murray S. Br J Gen Pract 26 March 2018; bjgp18X695729. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp18X695729

This study aimed to refine and evaluate the utility of a computer application (AnticiPal) to help primary care teams screen their registered patients for people who could benefit from palliative care.

Coordination of palliative care in community settings

NHS Health Scotland has published Coordination of palliative care in community settings, a rapid evidence review of the components of palliative care models. The review was done to inform the design of change ideas being devised by six test sites across Scotland to support improvement in identification and care coordination of palliative and end of-life care in the community.

The Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient: a critical analysis of its rise, demise and legacy in England

This article aims to address three questions: 1) why and how did the LCP come to prominence as a vehicle of policy and practice 2) what factors contributed to its demise? 3) what immediate implications and lessons resulted from its withdrawal?

Seymour J and Clark D. The Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient: a critical analysis of its rise, demise and legacy in England Wellcome Open Res 2018, 3:15 (doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.13940.1)

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Small Grants available

This year, to mark Good Death Week (14-20 May) SPPC is making available a limited number of £50 grants, specifically for the purpose of organising a ‘Death Lunch’. The idea is to help organisations and community groups find a way to bring people together to talk about death, dying and bereavement issues over food. The grants are to go towards the cost of room hire and refreshments. We also have available a conversation menu and some other resources to help people get started. The deadline for applications is 30 April 2018. Find out more and apply for a grant here.

New Chair for SPPC

On behalf of all members of SPPC we’d like to thank Kenny Steele for his 5 years of service as Chair of SPPC. We are pleased to announce that Council have elected Annabel Howell as the new Chair of SPPC. Annabel has served on the SPPC Council for a couple of years. She is Associate Medical Director and Palliative Care Lead for NHS Borders. Before training in palliative medicine Annabel worked as a GP and also in paediatric intensive care.

New Council Member

We are pleased to announce that Ron Culley has been co-opted to the SPPC Council. Ron is Chief Officer of Western Isles Health & Social Care Partnership. Ron represents Chief Officers on the government’s National Implementation and Advisory Group on Palliative and End of Life Care. Previously Ron was Chief Officer, Health and Social Care, with the local authority organisation COSLA.

New Constitution for SPPC

A new constitution has been adopted by SPPC following an overwhelming vote of support by members at the recent AGM. The new constitution makes the membership of the SPPC more open and inclusive. The new constitution and an easy-read guide to the changes are available on the SPPC website.

What will SPPC Be Doing in 2018/19?

The SPPC work plan for 2018/19 can now be downloaded from our website.

To Absent Friends: Evaluation Report

November 2017 saw another successful edition of To Absent Friends, a people's festival of storytelling and remembrance. An evaluation report of the festival, based on feedback from event organisers and attendees, is now available.

Good Death Week

Good Death Week will take place across Scotland from 14-20 May 2018. It is an opportunity for individuals and organisations to promote the positives of living in a society where people can be open about dying, death and bereavement.

Organisations and individuals across Scotland are invited hold events to mark the occasion, as well as making a noise over social media. Anyone can get involved by organising an event, no matter how big or how small. If you'd like to chat through your ideas, please get in touch, and if you are planning to take part please let us know so we can help promote your event.

For those looking for inspiration, the theme this year will be 'What does a good death mean to you?', and resources are available on the website: Good Death Week: Resources.

Public Health Priorities for Scotland

The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care has submitted views for consideration in the public engagement exercise on Public Health Priorities for Scotland. The engagement exercise is being undertaken by the Scottish Government and COSLA. The SPPC response proposes that:

• Public Health Reform discussions should be reframed to talk not just of improving ‘health’ but of improving ‘health and wellbeing’.
• “Adjusting to the needs of an ageing population” should be a Public Health Priority.

The full submission is available here: SPPC submission relating to the development of Public Health Priorities for Scotland.

Scottish Hospices Forum

A review of the role of the Scottish Hospice Forum has led to the establishment of a Hospice Leadership Group outwith the auspices of the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care. This new Group will be independent from SPPC but will still provide a forum for engagement with SPPC. However, the Scottish Hospice Forum as a constituency group of SPPC facilitated by SPPC staff no longer exists.

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Emergency admissions data briefing

Marie Curie has published a data briefing relating to the number and duration of emergency admissions in the last year of life, and exploring the consequences of predicted trends.

Scottish Care report on recruitment and retention

Scottish Care has released a new report, The 4Rs: The open doors of recruitment and retention in social care, which explores recruitment and retention of individuals working in the care sector.

HUK PopNAT tool

Hospice UK have made available PopNAT, a population-based needs assessment tool. PopNAT brings together a range of public data about local populations across clinical, demographic and social characteristics. The tool has been designed for people who may be new to population analysis, as well as more experienced users, who can drill down into more detail through the tool. PopNAT includes information on GP surgeries and care homes by area, and a section on different uses and ways into the data.

New Chief Executive at Ardgowan Hospice

Linda McEnhill has been appointed the new Chief Executive at Ardgowan Hospice.

Marie Curie prize

Congratulations to Marie Curie, who recently won second place for the Best Exhibition Stand at the Scottish Labour Party Conference.

Transition fund now open for applications

Together for Short Lives has announced that round two of the Improving Transitions for Young People Fund is now open for applications. The fund will back new initiatives aiming to transform the experiences of young people with life-limiting conditions as they move from children's to adult services.

New faculty position to lead delivery of BSc Palliative Medicine, Malawi

Expressions of interest are now being accepted from medically qualified doctors with expertise and / or interest in education and palliative care in low resource settings, to lead the development and delivery of a BSc in Palliative Medicine which will commence in mid-August 2018 at the College of Medicine in Blantyre, Malawi. This new three-year full-time course is being offered within the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, run by the Department of Family Medicine.

More information about the Palliative Care program and the Department of Family Medicine is available on their website. Feel free to contact: Dr John Parks, Head of Department, Department of Family Medicine, or email a recent CV and cover letter.

Knowledge resources to support management of rare diseases

Healthcare Improvement Scotland is keen to find out what knowledge resources are currently used to support the diagnosis and management of rare diseases across Scotland. A brief survey has been launched to help gather this information.

In the Media

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In each edition of Update we try to end with something a little bit thought-provoking or different... This month, 'Virtual reality takes terminal cancer patients to dream places'...

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We try to provide a fairly comprehensive list of palliative care events taking place in Scotland with the aim of publicising events and aiding event-planners to avoid diary clashes. If you are running an event that you'd like to publicise in the bulletin, please get in touch.

SPPC Annual Conference 2018

The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care Annual Conference will take place on Wednesday 28 November 2018 at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

Symptom Assessment & Management Course

Organised by St Margaret of Scotland Hospice. 6 part course beginning on 5 April 2018. More information is available here: weblink.

Assessment and Evaluation in Bereavement Care: Strategy Symposium

Organised by The Bereavement Assessment and Evaluation Task Group, 12 April 2018, London. More information is available here: weblink.

Supporting parents through pregnancy loss and the death of a baby

Organised by Child Bereavement UK. 18 April 2017, Aberdeen. More information is available here: weblink.

Person Centred Culture – Removing the blinkers

Organised by Marie Curie. 24 April 2018, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink.

Atul Gawande – WEBEX

Organised by Healthcare Improvement Scotland. 26 April, Online (WEBEX). More information is available here: weblink.

Palliative and End of Life Care in Dementia – Training for Frontline Staff

Organised by NES. 9 May 2018, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink.

Good Death Week

Good Death Week will take place across Scotland from 14-20 May 2018. It is an opportunity for individuals and organisations to promote the positives of living in a society where people can be open about dying, death and bereavement. More information is available here: Good Death Week

Patient and Public Involvement Event

Organised by the University of Glasgow. Aimed at adults with a life-limiting condition and carers with experience of caring for someone with a life-limiting illness. 15 May, Glasgow. More information is available here: weblink.

Scottish Palliative Care Research Forum

16 May 2018, Edinburgh. For more information contact Prof Bridget Johnston.

Decision Making and Mental Capacity Implementing the 2018 NICE Guidance

Organised by HC-UK Conferences. 18 May 2018, London. More information is available here: weblink.

ACA Annual Conference and Exhibition 2018

Organised by the Association for Continence Advice (ACA) 21 & 22 May 2018, Bournemouth. More information is available here: weblink.

Paediatric Continence Workshop

Organised by the Association for Continence Advice (ACA). 21 May 2018, Bournemouth. More information is available here: weblink.

Care Home Continence Workshop

Organised by the Association for Continence Advice (ACA) 22 May 2018, Bournemouth. More information is available here: weblink.

Creating singing groups for people with dementia

Led by Diana Kerr, organised by Faith in Older People. 24 May 2018, Perth. For more information or to book a place email Faith in Older People.

Care of Dying Adults in the last days of life: Improving Care and ensuring adherence to the NICE National Quality Standard

Organised by HC-UK Conferences, 25 May 2018, London. More information is available here: weblink.

Action: The 2nd Health and Social Care Integration event

Organised by the ALLIANCE. 4 June, Glasgow. More information is available here: weblink.

Alzheimer Scotland Conference 2018

8 June 2018, Edinburgh. More details are available here: weblink.

Improving End of Life for People with Dementia

Organised by Healthcare Conferences UK. 15 June 2018, London. More information is available here: weblink.

Caldicott Principles & Information Sharing in End of Life Care

Organised by Healthcare Conferences UK. 25 June 2018, London. More information is available here: weblink.

Challenge or Conform: Finding Consensus in an Evolving Specialty

Organised by Strathcarron Hospice. 27 and 28 September 2018, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink.

Save the date: The Malcolm Goldsmith Lecture 2018: Rev Canon Dr Joseph John Morrow

Organised by Faith in Older People, 8 November 2018.

St Margaret of Scotland Hospice courses

A full list of courses delivered by St Margaret of Scotland Hospice is available on their website.

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