Welcome to Update, a monthly round-up of news relevant to palliative care in Scotland, brought to you by the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care. | |
Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill SPPC publishes updates relating to the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill here. Assisted Dying Bill – timeline on votes The deadline for MSPs to submit amendments to the Assisted Dying Bill is noon on 3rd March. The Daily Lists of Amendments lodged can be viewed here. The debate and vote on amendments will start on 10th March. The debate and final vote on the Bill will be sometime the following week. SPPC has worked with Bob Doris to develop many amendments to the Bill at Stage 3. We will publish a full listing of these amendments on our website very soon, once these have been lodged with Parliament. Letter from Neil Gray to Convenor of HSCS Committee - amendments to the Bill The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Neil Gray has written to the Convenor of the HSCS Committee to set out how it intends to try to deal with aspects of the Assisted Dying bill which fall outwith the legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. In addition the letter confirms that SG will table some amendments dealing with other “technical and practical inconsistencies” in the Bill. Finally SG has said that it will produce a “critique” of the most recent version of the Financial Memorandum (Dec 2025) which aims to set out the costs and savings associated with the Bill. Read the letter in full here. Letter from Neil Gray to Convenor of HSCS Committee - SG view on the Financial Memorandum Following on from the above item, Neil Gray has also written to the Health Social Care and Sport Committee giving the SG view of the Financial Memorandum produced by the MSP in charge of the Assisted Dying Bill. The lengthy analysis states “Scottish Government does not agree with the assumption that much of the provision of assisted dying would be absorbed into existing budgets or the conclusion that the Bill will have minimal cost implications.” Read the letter in full here. Concerns about conscientious objection and other clauses Dr Annabel Howell, the Chair of the Specialist Palliative Care Group, has written to SG to raise the group’s concerns about the intended removal of clauses from the Assisted Dying Bill prior to the Stage 3 vote. These are the clauses which relate to the regulation of health professionals, which are being removed since this policy area is not devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Due to this removal, the Group is concerned about the possibility of the Bill becoming law without adequate provisions in these areas. The letter seeks to ensure that clarity is provided as soon as possible. Read the letter in full here, and read SG’s response here. Seven other other medical and healthcare membership organisations in Scotland have signed a joint consensus statement raising concerns about similar issues: Proposed changes to Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill Scottish Government budget agreement The Scottish Government budget agreement announced on 12 February includes “a further £2.9 million for the hospice sector, to deliver pay parity for staff with the NHS Agenda for Change.” This commitment is in addition to an earlier amount, and a commitment to agree a framework for sustainable future funding. Hydrolysis (“water cremation”) Following a vote in Scottish Parliament on 21 January, hydrolysis regulations have been approved and will come into force on 2 March 2026. Hydrolysis can be an alternative to cremation or burial, using a controlled chemical process to break down a body. Find out more at SG’s Funeral Industry News blog here or at this STV news article here Back to top | |
Macmillan Palliative & End of Life Care Programme Evaluation Report Macmillan Cancer Support and the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) have published an evaluation of their work to improve palliative and end of life care delivery by the SAS. Read the report in full here. New resource for health and social care staff: Palliative care learning hub As part of the new palliative care strategy delivery plan, Scottish Government have launched a new online learning hub providing free palliative care education resources for Scotland’s health and social care workforce. The Palliative Care Learning Hub brings together recommended learning materials from NHS Education for Scotland, Scottish Social Services Council, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Health Boards and third sector organisations in one accessible place. Find out more here. ReSPECT e-learning The ReSPECT process creates personalised recommendations for a person’s clinical care and treatment in a future emergency in which they are unable to make or express choices. The ReSPECT e-learning course helps healthcare professionals confidently use the ReSPECT process in clinical practice. The course can be accessed through the NHS e-learning hub. Find out more and register here. Bereavement practices within older adult care homes in Scotland: a focus group study This study of care home staff explores how bereavement is woven through everyday care home life, understood as a tapestry of experiences, relationships and practices involving staff, residents and their relatives. The study’s findings suggest that tailored reflective support for staff is needed to sustain compassionate care. Read the study in full here. Sharing current Scottish Practice The Poster Exhibition at the SPPC Annual Conference 2025 showcased best practice and new initiatives to improve experiences of living with serious illness, dying and bereavement in Scotland and further afield. Each month we’ll highlight a few of these posters in this newsletter and on our blog. This month we highlight these five posters... click on the links to view the posters: 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. Back to top | |
International Delphi Study on Cachexia Management in Palliative Care. Researchers are seeking participants for an International Delphi Study aimed at building consensus on best practices for managing cachexia in palliative care in adult patients. Participants should be health professionals, dieticians or social workers who have worked in palliative care for at least 10 years and can commit to participating in two or three rounds of questionnaires. To sign up to participate. complete this short form or email matteo.moroni@auslromagna.it Improving care around death study Researchers at the University of St Andrews are seeking feedback on two ideas to improve community palliative care: a 24/7 single-point-of-access helpline and BRIDGE, a shared record/support app for coordinating care. Clinicians, patients, and unpaid carers (and advocates) across Scotland are invited to take part in a one-to-one interview (45–60 minutes). Interviews can be done online (Teams), by phone, or in person, and participants receive a £20 voucher. To take part or find out more, contact spnq1@st-andrews.ac.uk Use of technology to stay connected during COVID-19 pandemic Dr Annabel Howell is conducting a study as part of the University of Hull research project Digital Goodbyes: Meaning-making, connection and disconnection at the End of Life During COVID-19. You are invited to take part if: - Someone close to you died during the pandemic and you were unable to be with them in person, and you had to say goodbye using technology such as video calls
- OR you were a healthcare worker during the pandemic, who helped someone say goodbye to a loved one using digital technology.
Find out more and volunteer to take part here. Back to top | |
Disability Benefits Evaluation: Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) The SRTI policy disability benefits evaluation and its accompanying commissioned work have now been published as part of the evaluation strategy for disability benefits policy. Find out more here: Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) Policy Evaluation Report and its commissioned work. Back to top | |
Opportunity to help shape SPPC’s work over the next few years SPPC has developed a new draft strategy to guide its work over the next 3 years. We are keen to get the views of as many members and stakeholder as possible. You can download the draft strategy here. Please let us have any comments by emailing Mark.Hazelwood@palliativecarescotland.org.uk or through tracked changes by Monday 16th March. Thank you. Demystifying Death Week 2026 Would you like to see a Scotland where people can talk, learn about and plan ahead for death and dying?
If so, please lend your support to Demystifying Death Week 4-10 May. Demystifying Death Week is a collaborative effort. Each year all kinds of organisations and individuals organise events for people to discuss death, dying and bereavement. For example death cafes, discussion groups, lectures, film screenings, craft workshops, theatre performances, seminars and information stands. Check out our website for free Demysityfing Death resources use here. Lunchtime chat: Planning a Demystifying Death week event Thinking of organising an event for Demystifying Death Week but want to chat through your ideas first? Join us online to share your experiences, reflections and questions, and bounce ideas off others - what makes a good event? What challenges do you face? What resources help? A chance for those new to this area to learn from others; a chance for experienced event organisers to gain some new ideas and inspiration. Wednesday 4th March, 12.30pm - 1.30pm. Email samara@palliativecarescotland.org.uk to book your place or find more information here: Demystifying Death Week Save the date: SPPC Annual Conference 2026 The SPPC Annual Conference 2026 will take place on 28 October 2026 at the John McIntyre Conference Centre in Edinburgh. Further details to follow. 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. Back to top | |
Power of Attorney Day - 22 April 2026 Power of Attorney Day is a national campaign to raise awareness about power of attorney in the UK. The campaign will be sharing more information and guidance for taking part in the coming months. Interested organisations and individuals are invited to find out more or join the mailing list by visiting the website. New definition and estimates of ‘unmet palliative care need’ Marie Curie has published a policy briefing which highlights their revised definition for ‘unmet palliative care needs’:
“Unmet palliative care needs are present when a person with life-limiting illness has symptoms, psychosocial concerns, or care requirements that are not adequately addressed through available services, with inability to access or receive person-centred care.” The policy briefing outlines: - Scotland-specific estimates of unmet need;
- What the evidence says about rising unmet need if no action is taken; and
- The priority actions that could close the gap, and ensure everyone gets the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
Read the briefing in full here. Martin Lewis letter to Scottish Government about Power of Attorney Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, has written to the Scottish Government to report that people in Scotland are being “sub-served” when they come to use their Power of Attorney compared with other UK nations. The letter pushes for change to improve experiences in Scotland. Read the letter in full here. New Public Health Scotland strategy: Together We Can Public Health Scotland (PHS) has published its new 10-year strategy, Together We Can, aiming to set a clear direction for improving and protecting the health and wellbeing of people across Scotland. Read the strategy in full here. Audit Scotland Publication - Integration Joint Boards: Finance bulletin 2024/25 The accounts Commission has produced a report on the very weak financial position of Integrated Joint Boards (who are responsible for planning and commissioning palliative care). Read the report in full here. Back to top | |
Child Bereavement UK training courses The below courses are for professionals in health and social care, education, the emergency services and the voluntary and corporate sectors. - Supporting bereaved pupils and managing bereavement in schools,
Wednesday 4 March, 9am to 12pm or 30 April, 9am to 12pm. Book your place here. - Understanding traumatic bereavement in children and young people,
Tuesday 10 March, 2 to 5pm. Book your place here. - Delivering grief education - preparing for curriculum changes,
Tuesday 17 March, 9 to 10am. Book your place here. - Supporting bereaved children and young people,
Wednesday 18 March, 9.30am to 12.30pm. Book your place here. - Supporting bereaved pupils with special educational needs and disabilities,
Monday 23 March, 9am to 12pm. Book your place here. - Supporting bereaved families following pregnancy loss and the death of a baby,
Friday 27 March, 10am to 1pm. Book your place here. - Preparing and supporting children when someone is dying,
Thursday 23 April, 9.30am to 12.30pm. Book your place here. - Supporting families through the Child Death Review process,
Tuesday 28 April, 10am to 1pm. Book your place here. The Bristol Centre for Grief Research and Engagement seminar series for 2025-26 - Voicing loss: Expectations & experiences of coroners’ inquests - Professor Jessica Jacobson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Birkbeck, University of London 3rd 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.
Webinar: Research on loneliness in advanced life-threatening illness: A focus on what we can do in our local communities Organised by MAIN. 11 March 2026, 12:00 pm, online via Teams. Find out more and 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. - Controlled Drugs: Ensuring the Safer Management, Diversion & Abuse, Prescribing and Use, Thursday 19th March 2026, The Studio, Birmingham or online. To find out more or register, click here or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk.
Palliative Care on the Ballot: An Election Hustings Organised by Marie Curie, Children’s Hospice Across Scotland (CHAS), Hospice UK, and Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care. Monday, 23 March 2026, 6:30 - 8:00pm, online via Teams. Find out more and register your place here. ALLIANCE Annual Conference: Hope to Action Organised by Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland. 23 March 2026, Radisson Blu, Glasgow. Find out more and book your place here. Advanced European Bioethics Course “Suffering, Death and Palliative Care” Organised by the section of Healthcare Ethics, IQ Health, (Radboud university medical centre Nijmegen). Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 24-27 March 2026. More information is available here: Advanced European bioethics course ‘Suffering, Death and Palliative Care’ - IQ Health The Art of Possibility: Creativity and Science in Modern Palliative Care Organised by the Association for Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and Ireland (APM). 26-27 March 2026. More information is available here. 7th All Island Children’s Palliative Care Conference 23-24 April 2026 at the Limerick Strand Hotel. Abstract submissions are now open. Find out more, see abstract submission guidelines, and register here. EAPC World Congress: Palliative care research - from strong foundations to new horizons Organised by the European Association for Palliative Care. 14-16 May, Prague, Czech Republic. Find out more here. CDAS Annual Conference: “Death and Power” Organised by the Centre for Death & Society. Wednesday 17 - Friday 19 June 2026, online. Find out more here. Inspiring Leadership Programme - Cohort 8 Organised by NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Strathcarron Hospice and the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice. 12-month programme starting September 2026, including 7 online classroom days. This leadership course is targeted to health and social care professionals and senior colleagues working in specialist palliative care in Scotland. Registration will close on April 3rd 2026. Register here. For further information please email: ggc.carepalliative@nhs.scot or visit the programme website here. European Grief Conference 2026: Bereavement, Grief and loss - responding collaboratively to local and global challenges 9-11 September, Porto, Portugal. More information is available here. Save the Date: SPPC Annual Conference 28 October 2026, John McIntyre Conference Centre, Edinburgh. Details to follow. Save the Date: 2026 Bereavement Education Conference Organised by NES. Wednesday 11 November 2026, online. Details to follow. Back to top |
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