At St Christopher`s Hospice in London, we are extremely proud to be continuing our founder Dame Cicely Saunders’ inspiring legacy of delivering a range of affordable training programmes to students from all over the world to help improve end of life care and palliative care wherever it is needed. Our upcoming multi-disciplinary programme, for which bursaries are offered, is a great example of this approach.
St Christopher’s is recognised as the first modern hospice in the world. Founded by Dame Cicely Saunders in 1967, St Christopher’s is the first hospice to combine research and teaching with clinical care, pioneering the field of palliative care.
Some people might think St Christopher’s is simply a hospice with beds that cares for people at the very end of their lives. But this is far from the truth. We are much more than this, playing an active role in the continued development of hospice and palliative care services across the UK and in other parts of the world.
Each year we provide care and support for over 7,500 people and deliver an education programme enhancing the skills and knowledge of over 4,000 more. Research at St Christopher’s takes an innovative approach to measuring new service models (particularly for an ageing population), public health and our patient outcomes.
St Christopher’s vision is of a world in which all dying people and those close to them have access to the care and support they need, when and wherever they need it. To that end we are keen to work alongside individuals and organisations from different parts of the world to exchange ideas, skills and plans for palliative and end of life care, and its future.
This collaboration enriches and improves our own work, as well as hopefully contributing to the success of other organisations. Our education and training programmes are key to this approach, bringing together a mix of individuals committed to similar aims to learn together to find new solutions to the problems of suffering on the part of people who are dying or bereaved.
Our five-day multi-disciplinary programme taking place in October this year, embraces an international audience. We are proud to offer a programme that delivers high quality training affordable to participants from low-and middle-income countries.
This multi-disciplinary programme provides an opportunity for health and social care professionals from a variety of settings and countries to work together to explore the key principles of palliative care and multi-professional working. With participants and tutors representing various professions in the palliative care team, the week offers an opportunity for collaborative and practical learning. In addition, delegates will be encouraged to reflect on wider contemporary issues and the implications for developing palliative care practice within their own setting and culture.
The programme structure enables each person to focus on what is relevant to their own specific care setting and devise a plan for shifting their learning into practice. It combines practice observation facilitated by senior hospice clinicians with classroom presentations, group discussions and individual action planning. It also offers the opportunity to participate in an ongoing online learning community. Our next five-day programme commences on Monday 19 October 2020.
Financial support is available to individuals interested in attending the multi-disciplinary programme as we want those people most likely to benefit from the opportunity to be able to attend. Bursaries are awarded to clinicians who not only take the skills and information they have learnt back home but strive to be palliative care leaders in their home countries. Applications for funding will be assessed on this basis. Find out more and how to apply at www.stchristophers.org.uk/mpacademy
To find out more about how we could support learning for you or your organisation, please contact us and we will be happy to help. You may telephone our Education team on +44 (0)20 8768 4656, email our team at education@stchristophers.org.uk or visit our website for information about all our other courses at www.stchristophers.org.uk/education. St Christopher’s is a registered charity 210667.
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