UK Government report on Pandemic Preparedness Strategy

The new Pandemic Preparedness Strategy outlines the commitment of all four nations of the UK to rebuild readiness and prepare underlying capabilities for future pandemics, taking a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach prioritising the needs of the most vulnerable.

Read the report in full here.

Joint Letter to Finance Secretary regarding hospice funding and Scottish budget (Case Ref: BD21687)/DC

Bob Doris MSP and Marie McNair MSP have sent a joint letter to Shona Robison MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, regarding hospice funding in the context of Scottish budget discussions.

Read the letter in full here.

Scottish Parliament elections: Palliative care in party manifestos

Prior to the upcoming Scottish Parliament Elections on 7 May, several political parties have made references to palliative care within their party manifestos. SPPC is independent of party politics and abides by the legal frameworks which apply to charities during electoral periods. For information, we have collated together links to all the major parties’ manifestos where ‘palliative care’ is explicitly mentioned and quoted the relevant content in each: Scottish Parliament elections: Palliative care in party manifestos

Key asks for the next Scottish Parliament from members of the palliative care community

The Cross Party Group on Palliative Care met in February 2026 and heard presentations from 10 experts outlining key actions for the next Scottish Parliament. SPPC has summarised these ‘key asks’ into a paper designed to be useful for arguing the case for change, during this election and in future.

You can access the paper here: Key asks for the next Scottish Parliament

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Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry: Impact of COVID-19 on health and social care

The Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry has published an overview of evidence provided about the impact of and response to the pandemic, relating to health and social care in Scotland. The Narrative Record draws on evidence from 156 witnesses heard over 16 weeks of public hearings, capturing the experiences of patients, service users, carers, bereaved families, health workers and others.

Read the report in full here.

UK COVID-19 Inquiry: Module 3 Report

The Inquiry has published its third report and recommendations following its investigation into the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the healthcare systems of the UK. Module 3 - The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the healthcare systems examines the governmental and societal response to Covid-19 as well as dissecting the impact that the pandemic had on healthcare systems, patients and healthcare workers .  Chapter 7 is titled ‘death and end-of-life care’ and includes end-of-life visiting and DNACPR.

Read the report in full here.

New report urges overhaul of palliative care for people with complex mental health needs

Rewilding Healthcare by Cultivating Relational Systems, is a new report by Dr Sarah Yardley, UCL researcher and Churchill Fellow.  It calls for a major rethink of how palliative care is designed and delivered for people with complex mental health needs.

Read the report in full here.

TAPESTRY bereavement support tool

TAPESTRY is a new practical toolkit relating to bereavement support in care homes. 

Find out more 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:

• Ward Documentation (QI Project)
• Kilbryde Hospice (improving care planning documentation)
• The use of PCCS to improve Palliative input in patients with advanced cancer
• Comparison (2024-25) of the outcomes and results of the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool (CSNAT) with the family and carers of community palliative patients across Fife, being seen by Specialist Palliative Care Team Occupational Therapy
• Stronger Together: Five hospices collaborate to develop and deliver yearly medicines management study-days for hospice nurses

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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Next week (4-10 May) is Demystifying Death Week, aiming to shine a light on death, dying and bereavement in Scotland. 

Individuals and organisations can lend their support by sharing relevant resources, links and images over social media.  Check out our Communications Pack which includes:

• some new infographics about palliative care
• shareable images promoting the importance of planning ahead
• flyers directing people to various great films and resources providing support and information about dying and bereavement
• a template press release 
• a social media sheet 

All of these can be accessed here: Communications Pack

Any support you or your organisation can lend can make a big difference to the impact of the week. More information about Demystifying Death week, including events taking place and other ways you can get involved, is here: Demystifying Death Week

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Communicating Uncertain RecoVEry in acute care: a survey of physicians’ views (the CURVE study)

A team based at the University of Cambridge are inviting UK doctors working in acute care settings to complete a short anonymous online survey about communicating uncertain recovery.

Find out more or take part here.

Use of unscheduled care in the last year of life for people with multiple long-term health conditions

This study by Sarah Bowers and colleagues aimed to characterise Scotland-based decedents with multiple long-term health conditions in their last year of life and explore the relationship between characteristics and unscheduled care usage over that year. It concluded that people dying with MLTCs had particularly high use of unscheduled care in the last year of life, likely reflecting unmet need.  It suggested that anticipating and addressing these needs, through usual care providers, could reduce avoidable use of unscheduled care.

Read the study and findings in full here.

RCP Future Healthcare Journal: collection of articles on palliative care in 2050

The March 2026 issue of Future Healthcare Journal looks at the future of palliative and end-of-life care. Read it in full here.

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Participants sought: adults with cancer and caregiving responsibilities for dependent children

Participants are being sought for a study led by a team of researchers at Ulster University and University of Strathclyde. 

This study is for adults living in deprivation who have a significant caregiving responsibility for children (below 18 years old) and either: 

• are living with a poor cancer prognosis and are expected to die from their cancer, or
• directly supported children as their significant adult caregiver (such as a co-parent) died from cancer.

Findings from this study will be used to develop educational training for healthcare professionals to ensure the needs of adults and children living in deprivation impacted by incurable cancer are being met. 

Find out more, register to take part, or share the study here.

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New 3-year strategy and annual plan for SPPC 

SPPC has published a new Strategic Plan 2026-2029 which will guide how we allocate our time and resources to maximise our impact.  The strategy has been informed by input from members,  surveys of our public and professional stakeholders and a review of our previous strategy. Thanks to everyone who has contributed.   You can download the strategy here.  Our five strategic aims are to:

• Listen to, connect and inform stakeholders
• Give Voice
• Improve Services and End of Life Literacy
• Support recognition of, and action on, health inequalities
• Ensure Our Impact

SPPC has also published its Annual Plan for 2026-27.  You can download it here and see more detail of the outputs we intend to deliver over the next 12 months. Another busy year lies ahead!

SPPC in news coverage of the vote on the Assisted Dying Bill

SPPC CEO Mark Hazelwood was interviewed by BBC TV Reporting Scotland and talked about the importance of improving palliative care in the context of the recent parliamentary vote on assisted dying. Watch the video here.

Mark also appeared in a Radio Scotland interview on how to improve palliative care. Listen to the interview here.

The BBC also mentioned SPPC’s briefings throughout the bill’s progression over the years in its coverage of the vote. Read the article here. 

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.

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Terminal Illness Energy Support Options Paper

Consumer Scotland has prepared an options paper setting out proposals for targeted energy affordability support for people living with a terminal illness. 

Read the paper in full here.

European Association for Palliative Care: 21st World Congress - Call for themed sessions

EAPC’s 21st World Congress will take place in Glasgow from 20-22 May 2027. The call for themed sessions is now open, closing on 31 July 2026.  Find out more here.

Macmillan Cancer Professionals Podcast - “More than a diagnosis: Dementia and cancer together”

This two-part episode explores the realities of living with both dementia and cancer, and the isolation that can arise when experiences are misunderstood.  Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and the Macmillan website.

Questions Clearing House

If you would like to put a question to readers of this newsletter, please contact samara@palliativecarescotland.org.uk with your question, your organisation details, and a contact email address to receive replies.

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Understanding & optimising the benefits of bereavement support

Dr Emily Harrop, Marie Curie Senior Research Fellow, Cardiff University 6th May 2026, 1-2pm. Register here. Organised by the Briston Centre for Grief Research and Engagement.

Association for Continence Professionals - Annual Conference and Networking Exhibition

Organised by the Association for Continence Professionals; 11^th and 12^th May 2026 at the EICC, Edinburgh.

Find out more 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.

Supporting Wellbeing at Work: Experiences of Staff Caring for People with Advanced Illness

Organised by MAIN. 4 June 2026, 2-3.30pm, online via Teams. This webinar explores the wellbeing of staff who care for people with advanced illness. 

Find out more and register here.

Getting Bereavement Right Every Time

Organised by NHS Education for Scotland. 4 June 2026, 9:30-11:30, online. 

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.

• Improving End of Life Care for people with Cardiovascular Disease & Heart Failure, Thursday 11th June 2026, online. For further information and to book your place, click here or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk. 

• Patient Safety in Hospices, Friday 19th June 2026, online. For more information and to book your place, click here or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk.

• Pressure Ulcer Prevention & Management at the End of Life, Thursday 25th June 2026, online. For further information and to book your place, click here or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk.

• A Practical Guide to Effective Non-Medical Prescribing in End of Life Care, Thursday 2nd July 2026, online. For further information and to book your place, click here or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk.

CDAS Annual Conference: “Death and Power”

Organised by the Centre for Death & Society. 17-19 June 2026, online. 

Find out more here and register 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. 

Public Health Palliative Care Conference: Bridging Culture, Building Compassion

Organised by PHPCI. 6-9 October 2026, Fullon Hotel Tamsui Fisherman’s wharf, New Taipei City, Taiwan.

Find out more and register 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. 

The conference is now accepting abstracts for the hosting of parallel sessions and poster abstracts.

Further information about the event, how to submit an abstract, and the relevant deadlines can be found on this page of the NES Events website.

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

European Association for Palliative Care: 21st World Congress

Organised by EAPC. 20-22 May 2027, Glasgow. The congress’ theme is Humanising the Future: New Generations, New Technologies, Enduring Values. 

Find out more here.

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