St Catherine’s Hospice near Preston, in Lancashire, has organised the event held next month which will feature a varied programme of speakers covering issues including sexual health issues in palliative care and talking to children about dying.
The day is aimed at both palliative care professionals and generalists with an interest in improving their skills in what can be a challenging area.
The ‘Elephant in the Room’ conference will also feature an hour-long debate about assisted dying, welcoming Dr Richard Scheffer from the Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying and Robert Preston, Director of Living and Dying Well.
Lynn Kelly, Director of Knowledge Exchange Services at St Catherine’s, said the conference would tackle some challenging issues.
“Despite much progress in recent years, thanks to the work of hospices and campaigns like Dying Matters Awareness Week, death, dying and end of life care are still too often considered taboo.
“With our Elephant in the Room conference, we’re picking out some of the grittier topics within this broad subject area – emotive issues that spark many questions, even for experienced palliative care professionals. We want to provide a safe, independent setting for sharing experiences and expertise, and host a thoughtful debate which tackles the grey areas, not just the black and white.
“It’s sure to be an interesting and thought-provoking session, which we hope will provide both practical skills and advice for handling sensitive situations, at the same time as sparking meaningful discussion around these important issues.”
The conference will take place on Thursday 8 March 2018 at St Catherine’s Hospice in Preston.
For further information and to book a place visit St Catherine’s Hospice website
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