Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, has written to the UK Government to seek their views on whether the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill is within the legislative competence of the parliament. You can read his letter to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee here. 

CMO Annual Report: “Realistic Medicine: Critical Connections”

The Chief Medical Officer has published his Annual Report for 2024-25. Read the report in full here: Realistic Medicine: Critical Connections.

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Scottish Government letter - use of oral swabs with foam heads

The Primary Care Directorate have published a letter highlighting the recommendation that oral swabs with foam heads should not be used in health and care settings. The letter can be viewed here, and the relevant Scottish Palliative Care Guideline can be viewed here: Mouth care | Right Decisions 

Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines

Two guidelines have been published recently:

• Nausea and vomiting (June 2025)
• Malignant spinal cord compression (June 2025)

The Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines evidence bulletin is now hosted in Nested Knowledge, an interactive evidence summary software designed to provide at-a-glance evidence in a summary form to enhance clinician and academic user experience.

The Palliative Care Guidelines team are keen to hear from anyone who might like to be involved in the following updates or has evidence to share with the team on the following topics currently in development:

• opioid toxicity
• severe distress in the last days of life
• learning disabilities
• out-of-hours handover
• choosing and changing opioids

Please contact sara.marsden@nhs.scot to express your interest.

DALLI Toolkit - identification of and response to domestic abuse

A new Toolkit has been developed as a resource for health and social care practitioners working in hospice and palliative care and third sector organisations to inform and support them to identify and respond to domestic abuse experienced by those with life-limiting illnesses. The toolkit is designed to offer helpful information and practical suggestions that can be used flexibly in practice.

Sharing Scottish Practice - SPPC poster exibition

The Poster Exhibition at the SPPC Annual Conference 2024 showcased 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 on our blog. This month we highlight these five posters... click on the links to view the posters:

• Reducing Prescribing Errors in a Hospice Setting—A Multimodal QI Project
• Reinvigorating Community Palliative Care in Inverclyde
• Reshaping our Hospice Community Services
• Review of Generalist Palliative Care/ Recognition of Dying within NHS Ayrshire and Arran: local SEECare audit
• Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines: usage data and user survey

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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Hospice UK report on improving palliative care in remote, rural and island communities

Hospice UK has published a new UK-wide report “Bringing care closer to home: improving palliative care in remote, rural and island communities”.  The report shines a light on people’s experiences of death, dying and bereavement in rural communities, shares learning and innovative approaches to delivering care for both adults and children, and makes recommendations for services, local systems and policy makers to improve care and support in rural communities across the UK.

Find out more and read the full report here and read the briefing for Scotland here.

Expert Report: Care Sector Palliative and end-of-life care during the Covid-19 Pandemic

An Expert Report for the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry by Professor Katherine Sleeman and Professor Stephen Barclay titled “Module 6: Care Sector Palliative and end-of-life care during the Covid-19 Pandemic” has been published.

Read the report here.

National Audit of Care at End of Life 2024 (England & Wales)

The National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) is a comparative audit of the quality and outcomes of care experienced by the dying person and those important to them during the last admission to hospital before death, in inpatient settings in England, Wales and publicly funded care in Jersey.  Read the resulting State of the Nations report for 2024 here: NACEL State of the Nations Report

New research projects from Marie Curie & Alzheimer’s Society

Marie Curie and Alzheimer’s Society have joined forces to fund just under £1M research. These projects aim to develop practical tools, training, and guidelines—improving homecare support, empowering carers, reducing unnecessary hospital admissions, and addressing unique care needs of rare dementias.  Find out more about the projects and partnership here: Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme | Marie Curie

Projecting Future Demand for Health and Care Services in Scotland (2024-2034): A Focus on Unplanned Inpatient Admissions to Acute Hospitals

Public Health Scotland have published a report showing a projected increase in unscheduled hospital admissions. Read the report in full here.

Survey: Supporting families living in deprivation

A team of researchers at Ulster University and University of Strathclyde is undertaking a survey: “Supporting families living in deprivation, when an adult with caregiving responsibilities for dependent children is at end of life with cancer”. 

The study is now recruiting for health and social care professionals (any discipline or grade) to take part in a one-off, 40-minute interview to explore their experiences and perceptions of supporting families living in deprivation when an adult with significant caregiving responsibilities for dependent children is at end of life with cancer.

For more information and to sign up, please visit this link.

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Conference: From System Holes to Whole System

More speakers have been announced for the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care Annual Conference, taking place in Edinburgh on 12 November 2025.

This year’s theme is From System Holes to Whole System, and the conference will explore how the different elements of the system can work together more effectively to improve people’s experiences of living with serious illness, dying and bereavement.

A Call for Posters is currently underway. If you are interested in presenting a poster or bringing along your display stands, please contact Pauline Ellison for a proposal form at pauline@palliativecarescotland.org.uk, to be submitted by Monday 29 September 2025.

View the programme and book your tickets here: Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care Annual Conference.

Scottish Care joins SPPC

SPPC is delighted to welcome Scottish Care as our newest member organisation. Scottish Care is a membership organisation and the representative body for independent social care services in Scotland.  Scottish Care provides a voice for care providers, their workforce and people who access care and support.

Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive of Scottish Care, is joining SPPC’s Council to represent social care providers.  As Chair of Scotland’s Bereavement Charter working group Donald also brings an active and ongoing commitment to improving bereavement support in Scotland.

To Absent Friends 2025: New Resources

We have launched several new resources to support people participate in To Absent Friends, a people’s festival of storytelling and remembrance that takes place across Scotland 1-7 November.

• Creative Workshops for Remembrance - four templates for group activities.
• To Absent Friends Suppers - A Guide
• To Absent Friends: Practical Ideas for Events

We also have a range of other ideas and resources on our website, including:

• To Absent Friends: Guide to Holding an Event 
• Guide to making a Tribute Wall
• Essence of a Memory photo exhibition 

If you have an idea you’d like to discuss, please get in touch: samara@palliativecarescotland.org.uk 

Creating Connection: A workshop on hosting remembrance events

Join us on 3rd September for this interactive workshop to explore some practical ways of holding space for remembrance activities. This event is designed for people who would like to organise an event as part of To Absent Friends 2025. 

Delegates will explore some potential ways of creating space for meaningful conversations and participate in three different activities: 

• Reminiscence Café
• Art Workshop
• To Absent Friends Supper

Together, participants will have opportunities to reflect on how they might bring one of these activities into their own community. More information is available here: To Absent Friends | Creating Connection: A workshop on hosting remembrance events

SPPC’s Response to the Long Term Conditions Strategy Consultation

SPPC has responded to the Scottish Government consultation on a new policy framework for long terms conditions.

You can download and read SPPC’s response here.

Follow us on social media

For updates on SPPC and Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief work, follow us on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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New Impact Centre for Palliative & End-of-life Care

A new Impact Centre for Palliative & End-of-Life Care has been established as part of King’s Cicely Saunders Institute.  It will aim to: 

• Synthesise, translate and communicate evidence: providing accessible, relevant information to improve how palliative care is delivered.
• Share evidence-based approaches with practitioners and providers: developing the skills, knowledge and confidence of those delivering palliative and end-of-life care.
• Engage with national and local policymakers: shaping how palliative care is implemented across the UK.
• Improve public understanding of dying, death and bereavement: empowering people to advocate for themselves and their families to ensure they receive the care they need.

Visit the website here.

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The Bristol Centre for Grief Research and Engagement seminar series for 2025-26

• What can we learn from history about grief, loss & bereavement? 
  Dr Molly Conisbee, Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Death and society, University of Bath 
  10^th September 2025, 1-2pm. Register here
• Equitable bereavement care for all ethnicities: Learning from a national NIHR funded study
  Dr Sabrina Bajwah, Clinical Reader, King’s College London;
  Dr Catriona Mayland, Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Sheffield 
  20^th November 2025, 1-2pm. Register here
• The art of grief: Creativity, loss & the imagination
  Dr Lesel Dawson, Associate Professor in Literature & Culture, University of Bristol 
  15th January 2026, 1-2pm. Register here.
• Voicing loss: Expectations & experiences of coroners’ inquests
  Professor Jessica Jacobson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Birkbeck, University of London 
  3^rd March 2026, 1-2pm. Register here.
• Understanding & optimising the benefits of bereavement support
  Dr Emily Harrop, Marie Curie Senior Research Fellow, Cardiff University 
  6th May 2026, 1-2pm. Register here.

Healthcare Conferences UK: Professional Development Conferences & Masterclasses

Organised by Healthcare Conferences UK. For dates and times of individual sessions, see below. Readers of this newsletter can receive a 20% discount with the code hcuk20sppc.

• Caldicott Principles & Information Sharing in End of Life Care Friday 12^th September 2025. For further information and to book your place, visit the conference webpage or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk.
• A Practical Guide to Effective Non-Medical Prescribing in End of Life Care Thursday 25^th September 2025. For further information and to book your place, visit the conference webpage or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk.
• Controlled Drugs: Ensuring the Safer Management, Diversion & Abuse, Prescribing and Use Thursday 6^th October 2025, online. For more information or to register your place, visit here or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk.
• Patient Safety in Hospices Thursday 13^th November 2025, online. For further information and to book your place visit here or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk.
• Improving End of Life Care for people with Cardiovascular Disease & Heart Failure Wednesday 3^rd December 2025, online. For further information and to book your place visit here or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk.

Flick

House of Oz and Mad Nun Productions, 1-25 August, Edinburgh

“FLICK...delves into the complexities of a palliative care nurse’s life, blending comedy with a poignant examination of grief, loss, and care.” Find our more here. 

This Is Where You’ll Be

AGL and The Alchemists, 21 August 2025, Edinburgh

When Annie lost the love of her life to cancer, she found inspiration, comfort and courage in playing upbeat, funky, yet heartfelt music. So she formed a band, AGL and The Alchemists, and began to write and perform songs about love, life, loss and longing, and to explore through music, her experience of grief, survival and recovery. Find out more here.

The Future of Bereavement Support in Scotland

Organised by the Bereavement Charter Group. 28 August, Glasgow. Find out more and register here.

Getting Bereavement Right Every Time

Organised by NHS Education for Scotland. Thursday 11 September, 13:00-15:00, online.

For more information and to register, please visit here.

Webinar: How can we meet the palliative care needs of people living with severe mental illness and advanced incurable illness: lessons from an international Churchill Fellowship

Organised by MAIN. Tuesday 16 September, 12:30-2pm, online.

Find out more and register here.

NES Bereavement Education Programme - 10 year anniversary event

Organised by NHS Education for Scotland. Thursday 18 September, 1:30-3:30pm, online via MS Teams. 

Find out more information and register here.

Palliative Care: Fit for the Future? 

Organised by Strathcarron Hospice. 1-2 October 2025. John McIntyre Conference Centre, Edinburgh, EH16 5AY

For more information contact Angela Harkins at angela.harkins4@nhs.scot. Find out more and book your place here.

To Absent Friends: A People’s Festival of Storytelling and Remembrance

Initiated by Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief. 1-7 November 2025 across Scotland. Find out more here: To Absent Friends

NES Bereavement Education Conference 2025 - Bereavement as a Kaleidoscope: An Inclusive Approach For All

Organised by NHS Education for Scotland. 11 November 2025, online.

Registration is not yet open but to note interest in attending, please email event@nes.scot.nhs.uk.

SPPC annual conference - From System Holes to Whole System

Organised by SPPC, 12 November 2025 at the John McIntyre Conference Centre, Edinburgh. 

Find out more and register here.

Masterclass in Palliative Care

Organised by OxCERPC. 14 November 2025, 09.00-16.30, Strathcarron Hospice. 

Find out more and register here.

The 6th International Symposium for the Arts in Palliative Care: Living, dying and the arts: Whose story, whose voice?

Organised by St Columba’s Hospice Care in collaboration with Queen Margaret University. Friday 14 November 2025, Hybrid event.

The Call for Posters is now open (deadline: 21st August). Early bird registration is also now open until 5th September.

For more information and to register your place, please visit the symposium webpage here.

21st Kidney Supportive Care Meeting

18-19 November, Manchester

Early Bird Registration Deadline: Monday, 25 August 2025.  Register here.

GIRES Being Ready Training 

Organised by Gender Identity Research & Education Society (GIRES). 27 November 2025. Online or in-person, Colchester. 

To book your place please complete the booking form at: https://forms.office.com/e/FBm

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