Draft respiratory care action plan: consultation

Scottish Government is seeking views on the draft Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland. The closing date for receipt of consultation responses is 3rd April 2020.

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Confirmation of death best practice resources

A NES Confirmation of Death (CoD) working group has been reviewing the needs of registered healthcare professionals in Scotland, who will now be able to confirm death in any circumstances (DL (2017) 9). Following their findings and consultations, the group has developed an agreed process for the procedure of confirming a death and will soon be launching an accompanying set of national learning resources. More information is available here: Support Around Death website

Sharing current Scottish Practice

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PhD opportunity

An opportunity is available at Lancaster University to undertake a PhD looking at: The use of the Western palliative model in managing patients in resource-poor settings; the challenges and way forward for Ghana.

Public Health Palliative Care: call for abstracts

The 2^nd International Seminar of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) Research Network and the EAPC Reference Group on Public Health and Palliative Care is now inviting abstracts. The call for abstracts is open until Monday 1 June 2020. Please see the flyer and website for further information including the seminar's research themes and guidance on submitting abstracts.

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EAPC Task Force on Leadership

To foster international Palliative Care leadership capacity building, the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) has set up a Task Force, chaired by Professor Dr Raymond Voltz of the University Hospital Cologne, Germany and Professor Dr Sheila Payne of Lancaster University, UK.

They are seeking help to identify expertise and experience regarding leadership in palliative care - if you are able to help with any of the questions below, please email TF-Leadership@uk-koeln.de

• Do you provide leadership courses? If so, please provide details.
• Do you know associations and institutions that provide them in your country? If so, please send us contact information for the course coordinator
• Do you know leadership experts of palliative care that you would recommend us to contact? If so, please let us know the contact information of these experts.

Funeral support payment to be increased

The Funeral Support Payment’s rate for expenses such as funeral director fees, a coffin, and flowers, is to be increased from £700 to £1,000 for all applications received from 1 April 2020.

Assisted dying

The BMA has sought views from its members on what the BMA’s position on physician-assisted dying should be. The results from the survey will be published ahead of this year’s annual representative meeting and provided to those attending to help them make an informed decision about the BMA’s policy position.

The Royal College of General Practitioners opposes a change in the law on assisted dying, following the decision of its Council in February 2020.

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Life, Death, Grief Get-together 2020

Wednesday 20th May, Perth

The SPPC and GLGDGG warmly invite you to a knowledge-sharing and networking event that will be of interest to anyone interested in:

• Compassionate communities
• Public Health approaches to palliative care
• Encouraging others to plan ahead for illness and death

An opportunity to meet up with other people who share an interest in encouraging more openness about death, dying and bereavement, the event is a chance share the work you’re doing, and explore the current challenges, potential solutions and opportunities for collaboration that exist within Scotland. More information is available here: Life, Death, Grief Get-together 2020

Small grants scheme: Good Death Week

Good Death Week, which runs from 11 - 17 May, is a chance to get conversations started and take practical action to help with people's experiences of death, dying and bereavement. SPPC is offering grants of up to £50 to help your organisation or community group organise an event for this year's Good Death Week. For more information and to apply for a grant, see the grants page here.

Intern – Communications, web-management & events

SPPC is seeking an intern to work on a varied series of projects between April - August 2020. There is a strong communications strand to the role, including web management, social media and creation of e-bulletins. The role will also include some event-management, report-writing and administrative responsibilities. The deadline for receipt of applications is Monday 9 March.

Grants available for improvements to palliative care in Acute Hospitals

A grants scheme is available to support improvements to palliative care in Acute Hospitals in Scotland. Grant applications are invited from any acute clinical area that can demonstrate a need for improvement in the care being offered to patients who are experiencing a deterioration in their health and facing an uncertain outcome.

Truacanta Project: Final five

The final five projects have been selected for our Truacanta Project, which supports local communities across Scotland to take community action to improve people’s experiences of death, dying, loss and care. These five communities will now receive community development support and advice from Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care from April 2020 - March 2022. You can read about the Truacanta Project so far in Project Manager Caroline Gibb's blog and read more about the final five projects here.

Health and Sport Committee Inquiry into Social Care

The SPPC has submitted a response to the Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee Inquiry into Social Care.

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A Practical Guide to Effective Non Medical Prescribing for Pain

Organised by Healthcare Conferences UK. 6 March 2020, London. More information is available here: weblink.

Reducing & Managing Pressure Ulcers at the End of Life

Organised by Healthcare Conferences UK. 27 Mar 2020, London. More information is available here: weblink.

A good place to be’ – exploring workplace culture as part of a person-centred approach.

Organised by Marie Curie Hospice, Edinburgh. 21 April 2020, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink.

Effective Non-Medical Prescribing in End of Life Care

Organised by Healthcare conference UK. London, 27 April 2020. More information is available here: weblink.

A Practical Guide to Best Practice Symptom Control & Management in End of Life Care

Organised by Healthcare conference UK. London, 15 May 2020. More information is available here: weblink.

Association for Continence Advice (ACA) Annual Conference and Exhibition 2020

18th and 19th May 2020, Bristol More information is available here: weblink.

Working with bereaved teenagers

Organised by Child Bereavement UK. Glasgow. 20 May 2020, London. More information is available here: weblink.

Alzheimer Scotland Annual Conference

1 June 2020, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink.

Revaluing death: The Lancet Commission on the value of death

Organised by the Royal College of Medicine. 17 June 2020, London, More information is available here: weblink.

End of life care for people with learning difficulties: are we prepared?

Organised by PCPLD Network. 16 September 2020, Cardiff. More information is available here: weblink.

Public Health Research in Palliative Care: Towards Solutions for Global Challenges

Organised by the European Association of Palliative Care and the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care. 14-15 October 2020, Belfast. More information is available here: weblink.

St Columba's Hospice/Queen Margaret University programmes of study

St Columba’s Hospice in collaboration with Queen Margaret University provide two programmes of study:

• The Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care
• The MSc Person-centred Practice (Palliative Care)
• Postgraduate Diploma Person-centred Practice (Palliative Care – Advancing Clinical Practice)

Further information about the modules which are running 2019/20 is available here: weblink. If you would like to discuss your learning need/mode of study please contact: Janice Logan. If you have any difficulties applying via the Queen Margaret University website, please contact Sue Thorburn on 0131 551 7710.

St Margaret of Scotland Hospice courses

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

NES Bereavement Education Conference - save the date

The NES Bereavement team are pleased to announce that their 2nd Bereavement Education conference will run on Friday 20th November 2020 at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Further details will be provided as soon as possible.

The Malcolm Goldsmith Lecture 2020: Human Rights and Spirituality

Organised by Faith in Older People. A lecture from Dr Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive of Scottish Care. 7 May 2020, Edinburgh. More information is available here: weblink.

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