Palliative Care highlighted as key issue for Scottish Parliament

Scottish Parliamentary Research (SPICe) has published a report which highlights ‘approaches to palliative care policy’ as a key issue for the next session of the Scottish Parliament. You can access the report here: SPICe Report: Key Issues for Session 7.  

In addition the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee highlighted palliative care in its Legacy Report when summing up its work.  The Committee noted that palliative care is an “important policy area that could merit particular attention and further scrutiny during Session 7” (the new parliament).

Minister responsible for palliative care

Alison Thewliss MSP, Minister for Community Care, will have responsibility for palliative care in the new government.

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The Nursing Workforce in Scotland report

The Royal College of Nursing has published a report: The Nursing Workforce in Scotland 2026.  Read the report in full here.

Updated Categories of Children’s Palliative Care

Together for Short Lives has published updated categories of children’s palliative care, giving professionals a shared framework to identify which children may benefit from a palliative care approach.  Find out more here: Updated Categories of Children’s Palliative Care

‘Just Ask Me’ - Experiences of LGBTQ+ people from diverse ethnic backgrounds

No Barriers Here have published new resources emerging from their latest study, funded by Marie Curie, centering the voices, experiences and realities of LGBTQ+ people from diverse ethnic backgrounds in palliative and end of life care.   Find these new resources 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.

Most of the posters are available to view on the SPPC website, and each month we highlight a few on our blog and in this e-bulletin. This month we highlight these five posters... click on the links to view the posters:

• Lifes Stations (The Board Game)
• Palliative Prescribing at the Front Door
• Development of a Trauma Informed Rapid Access Palliative Care Clinic at Marie Curie Glasgow
• Long-term impacts of the EASE course – a qualitative study on participant experiences
• Exploring the impact of the Bereavement Charter Mark for employers in participating workplaces in Scotland: A phenomenological study 

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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Call for Posters - SPPC Annual Conference

The SPPC Annual Conference 2026 will take place on 28 October 2026 at the John McIntyre Conference Centre in Edinburgh.  If you are involved in an interesting project or in an area of work that you would like to share with others, you can apply to present your work in the conference Poster Exhibition.  The deadline for entries is Wednesday 16 September 2026. More information is available here: SPPC Annual Conference 2026

Marie Curie Research Grants

Marie Curie’s next call to its Research Grants Scheme will focus on some of the research priorities identified by people with lived and professional experience in the refreshed palliative and end of life care Priority Setting Partnership with the James Lind Alliance. The call will focus on generating research evidence on care close to home, in and out of hours, for people with palliative and end of life care needs, aligning closely with the priority.  The call runs 2 June - 17 July.  More information is available here: Research Grants Scheme: Care close to home

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SPPC Annual Conference

The SPPC Annual Conference 2026 will take place on 28 October 2026 at the John McIntyre Conference Centre in Edinburgh. An outline programme and booking details will be available shortly.

Call for Posters  

Are you involved in an interesting project or in an area of work that you would like to share with others? Why not present your work in the poster exhibition at the SPPC Annual Conference? If you are interested in presenting a poster complete this poster proposal form and email it to susan@palliativecarescotland.org.uk by Wednesday 16 September 2026.  More information is available here: SPPC Annual Conference 2026

Opportunities to Exhibit

There will be an opportunity to exhibit at the conference. The exhibitor area at the conference provides generous space for exhibitions and displays with easy access to the catering area, seating, posters and breakout rooms.  If you would like to discuss bringing an exhibition stand to the conference, please email susan@palliativecarescotland.org.uk by Wednesday 16 September 2026. 

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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Merger of Child Bereavement UK and Winston’s Wish

Child Bereavement UK and Winston’s Wish have come together and are now one unified charity: Child Bereavement UK.  Find out more about the merger and how services will change here.

Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave

Under the new Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave Regulations 2026, some fathers and partners are entitled to time off work to care for their child if their partner dies.  More information is available here.

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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.

Palliative Medicine

Organised by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. 23 June 2026.  More information is available 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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