Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

The Scottish Parliament Health, Sport and Social Care Committee has opened a call for evidence to gather views on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill. Views gathered will inform the Committee’s scrutiny o the Bill.  The call for evidence is open until 16 August 2024.  Share your views here: Call for Evidence

SPPC has produced an an Easy Read Brief on the key features of the Bill.

Share your thoughts on SPPC's draft response to the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

The Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee and the Finance and Public Administration Committee have both issued calls for views on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill. 

SPPC has produced a draft response to both calls. We would be very grateful to hear your thoughts and views by 31^st July. You can feedback in whatever way suits you best – through emailing mark@palliativecarescotland.org.uk, tracked changes, phone call, etc.

Find out more and read the draft response in full here.

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Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines Committee: Right Decisions User Survey

The Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines committee want to know how users are getting on with the new Right Decisions website and app, as well as with recent changes to the Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines content.

Please take a minute or two to complete the survey and contribute your thoughts here. 

Sharing current Scottish Practice

The SPPC Palliative Care Poster Parade is an online collection of posters showcasing best practice and new initiatives to improve experiences of living with serious illness, dying and bereavement in Scotland and further afield. All of the posters are available to view on the SPPC website, and each month we'll highlight a few in the the SPPC e-bulletin and blog. This month we focus on:

• COMFRT at end of life in ICU - saving other lives and giving hope click here
• Compassionate communication in palliative and end-of-life care workshops for community telecare-alarm responders click here
• Conducting a Phase III Clinical Trial in a Hospice Environment click here
• Creating, nurturing and sustaining service improvement in Scotland's hospitals in the shadow of austerity click here
• Critical Junctures: when children and families need CHAS most click here
• De-Prescribing in Palliative Care: A Quality Improvement Approach at University Hospital Monklands click here
• Deprescribing in Palliative Care at the Ayrshire Hospice click here
• Dundee Enhanced Community Palliative Care Project click here

The SPPC blog is a space to share practice currently underway in Scotland. If you have practice you'd like to share, please get in touch.

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Improving end of life experience for people with dementia: New £1 million partnership research call from Marie Curie and Alzheimer's Society

Marie Curie and Alzheimer's Society are making available £1,000,000 for new research that can improve the end of life experience for people with any form of dementia, and for those who care for and support them. This funding is being allocated through Call 13 of the Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme.

The call is open to expressions of interest until 30 July 2024 and lead applicants of shortlisted expressions of interest will be invited to submit a full application to the scheme.  For more details, please visit Marie Curie's website. 

Unreached: the impact of financial insecurity and socioeconomic deprivation in rural areas

This Marie Curie-funded study aims to explore, through in-depth interviews, the lived experiences of individuals and families living with advanced illnesses in the context of rural poverty and financial insecurity, specifically focusing on the experiences of those in rural, coastal, and island communities in Scotland. 

The University of Glasgow End of Life Studies Group are seeking to conduct 20-30 qualitative interviews with people with an advanced illness, or people who have cared for somebody in these circumstances. Interviews will be conducted face-to-face, by telephone, or through videoconferencing. Interviews are open to adults over the age of 18, and participants will receive a £25 high street voucher for their time. 

If you are interested or know someone who might be, please contact Dr Sam Quinn at Sam.Quinn@Glasgow.ac.uk.

Hospice UK: remote and rural surveys

As part of Hospice UK’s work to address inequity at the end of life, they are exploring palliative and end of life care in remote, rural and island communities across the UK. The project aims to increase understanding of what is important to people living in rural communities at the end of life, explore the challenges and opportunities in delivering palliative care in rural areas, share learning and case studies, and make policy recommendations to improve support for people in rural communities across the four nations.

To help inform the project, they are running two online surveys:

• One for staff and volunteers providing care and support to people with life limiting conditions in remote, rural and island communities. They are keen to hear from staff across a wide range of roles, including hospice and hospice care at home staff and volunteers, GPs, district nurses, social care staff, pharmacists, ambulance staff, community development workers, community hospital staff and others. Complete the staff and volunteer survey
• One for people living in remote, rural and island communities to share their lived experience: Complete the lived experience survey

The surveys are both open until 31 July 2024. If you would like to hear more about the project, please get in touch with Helen Malo h.malo@hospiceuk.org or Zoe Geer z.geer@hospiceuk.org.

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To Absent Friends Festival (1-7 November 2024)

To Absent Friends is a people's festival of storytelling and remembrance that takes place across Scotland 1-7 November each year. The Festival exists to encourage participation. Groups, communities and organisations are welcome to plan events, and these become the To Absent Friends event programme.

Ideas and tips for event organisers

We have put together a guide to provide inspiration and information for people considering holding a To Absent Friends event: To Absent Friends: Guide to Holding an Event

Small Grants

We run a small grants scheme, providing up to £300 to support organisations participate in the festival. The deadline for applications is 2 September 2024. Find out more here: To Absent Friends Small Grants Scheme 2024

Getting ready for To Absent Friends Festival: Lunchtime Chat

Join us online on 19th August at 1pm for an informal online gathering to find out more about the festival and how to get involved. It is a chance to meet people who have been involved in the festival before, bounce ideas off each other and learn more about the small grants scheme. Email samara@palliativecarescotland.org.uk to reserve a place.

Further information and resources

You can watch two short films about the festival here: TAF films

More information and free resources are available here: TAF resources

Death on the Fringe 2024

Death on the Fringe is a free listing of Edinburgh Fringe Festival shows on the themes of death, dying, bereavement, caring and serious illness. You can see the listing here: 2024 : Death on the Fringe

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£1 Million for Palliative Care Research

The University of St Andrews has been awarded up to £1 million by Scotland's Chief Scientist Office to conduct major research programs into population health issues. The grant, announced by Health and Social Care Secretary Neil Gray on June 4, will support an Applied Health Research Program focused on improving unscheduled care for people across Scotland in their last year of life. Collaborators include NHS Fife, NHS Highland / Highland Hospice, the Fife Community Advisory Council, the University of Edinburgh, and Yale University.

For more information, read the announcement in full here.

QMU Palliative Care Programmes

In partnership with St Columba’s Hospice Care, Queen Margaret University offers two online, part-time palliative care programmes. Both programmes are aimed at health and social care practitioners working with people with palliative and end of life care needs. The below links outline details of the two programmes including entry requirements and application information: 

• MSc in Person-Centred Practice-Palliative Care
• Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care

QMU welcomes applications for the next intake, commencing September 2024. 

Macmillan Education and Training

The Acute Oncology - Nutrition e-learning module from Macmillan Cancer Support has recently received endorsement from the British Dietetic Association (BDA), the professional body for Dietitians in the UK.

The prevalence of malnutrition in people living with cancer can be as high as 62% according to the latest figures from The British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (Malnutrition and Nutritional Care Survey, BAPEN, 2023). This module explores the impact of malnutrition and how to support people living with cancer to identify, prevent, or manage it. It also discusses nutritional guidelines for general populations, and other nutritional concerns such as weight gain during treatment and the value of alternative and complementary diets.

The Cancer Professionals Podcast - The weight of empathy: Understanding vicarious trauma in cancer care - Part 2

The second of the two-part episode is now available, which explores the widespread but often unrecognised issue of vicarious trauma in cancer care. It features Dr Karen Campbell, President of the UK Oncology Nursing Society and Associate Professor in cancer nursing, and Lisa Nel, practising therapist, clinical supervisor and independent trainer. Part 2 focuses on self-care, sharing practical strategies for recognising and addressing vicarious trauma within oneself and others.

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3rd Annual End-of-Life Doula International Research Symposium

Organised by the End of Life Doula International Research Group. 1-2 July, Glasgow (online and in person). 

More information is available here: weblink

Celebrating CommUnity in Palliative and End of Life Care

Organised by Compassionate Communities UK. 2-3 July, Rugeley.

More information is available here: weblink.

Supporting Staff Bereavement in the Workplace

Organised by Healthcare Conferences UK. 10 July 2024, online.

For further information and to book your place visit the website or email kam@hc-uk.org.uk.

Improving End of Life Care for people with Cardiovascular Disease & Heart Failure

Organised by Healthcare Conferences UK. 13 September 2024, online.

For further information and to book your place, visit the website or email frida@hc-uk.org.uk.

Supporting and Improving Communication in End of Life Care

Organised by Healthcare Conferences UK. 25 September 2024, online. 

For further information and to book your place, visit the website or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk.

Palliative Care: Looking through a different lens

Organised by Strathcarron Hospice. 2-3 September 2024, Edinburgh.

More information is available here: weblink.

8th Public Health Palliative Care International Conference: "Building Bridges Between Science and People"

Organised by PHPCI International. 22-25 October, Bern, Switzerland.

Find out more at the conference website.

To Absent Friends Festival

Initiated by Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief. 1-7 November across Scotland. A people's festival of storytelling and remembrance, with events organised by communities and organisations across Scotland. More information is available here: To Absent Friends festival

SPPC Annual Conference

SPPC’s annual conference will take place on Wednesday 6^th November. We hope to see you there! Watch this space for further details.

European Grief Conference 2024

Organised by the Irish Hospice Foundation with partners Bereavement Network Europe, Danish National Center for Grief and RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dublin, Ireland, 11-13 November 2024. 

Registration for the conference is now open here.

Find out more at the conference website.

Hospice UK National Conference 2024

Registration is now open for the Hospice UK National Conference 2024, which runs at the SEC in Glasgow from 26th – 28th November.

This year's theme is Hospice Care for all, for now, forever. The conference programme has been guided by Hospice UK’s new five-year strategy which explores three priorities: Improving equity of access, enhancing quality care and achieving sustainability.

You can find more information and book your place on the Hospice UK website.

NES Bereavement Conference: Bereavement in the modern world: Kindness in the chaos

Organised by NHS Education for Scotland’s Bereavement Education Programme. 3 December 2024, online. 

This virtual international conference is for all those working across health and social care. More information is available here: weblink.

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