Welcome back for a look at Wednesday at the Hospice UK conference!
In addition to the four central themes for 2015 (arts and holistic care, science and innovation, policy into practice and business and culture of care) we are delighted to introduce a fifth ‘creative strand’ this year, with live performances all day and opportunities for delegates to get creative by participating in interactive activities throughout the conference.
Professor Max Watson will kick start the day, with an opening plenary about Project ECHO, a cutting‑edge medical education technology that is being trialled at his hospice in Northern Ireland. Prof Watson is author and editor of numerous academic books and journals and brings knowledge from his extensive experience of research and teaching across the globe.
In the morning parallel session, you might choose to hear oral presentations on abstracts specially selected via the call for papers. Likewise, you could learn more about the arts and holistic care in a parallel session on improving training and care using arts‑based methods.
The morning break is the perfect moment to get involved with the interactive activities.
This year, we are inviting all delegates to exercise their own creative muscles and contribute to a collective, inclusive mosaic art project for Hospice UK. Wander over to the Riverside Balcony to add a tile and hopefully see the mosaic taking shape (any guesses as to what shape?).
Equally, you might enjoy taking a closer look at our perspex angels installation, kindly loaned by Hertfordshire sculpture artist Claudia Ashley-Brown. The angels, which usually reside in St Albans abbey, have been hand etched and formed in perspex and are intended to represent the five stages of bereavement – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance – plus a final stage of peace. We hope that they will provide space for meditation and contemplation in an otherwise action-packed few days.
All delegates will also have the opportunity to provide feedback on the event at any time through an acrostic writing exercise. Maybe you’ll feel inspired to write down words as you listen to a choral performance over lunch? We are excited to welcome Maggie’s Choir, from Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre in Cheltenham, for the day.
In the afternoon, Professor Scott Murray from Edinburgh University will provide stimulating insights on the design of palliative care services, in his plenary session titled ‘Danse macabre’. Prof Murray has a vision of a new public health, wherein good palliative care is available to everyone, everywhere, by generalists and supported by specialists.
After hearing from Proff Murray, delegates will head straight into another parallel session. This is a good opportunity to hear from the man who curated our creative strand: music therapist Bob Heath, who will explore compassionate collaboration in end of life care.
Wednesday will wrap up with the Hospice UK AGM, followed by another great networking occasion over pre-dinner drinks and a three-course dinner in the Liverpool Hilton.
We are excited to invite David Pearl as our dinner guest this year, with an inspiring speech entitled ‘Authoring the future’. Pearl is an innovator who works in business, performing arts and social change. He is particularly focussed on how we use narrative not just to describe the world, but to change it; so we look forward to hearing his ‘pearls’ of wisdom on this for the world of hospice care. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss out – book a place today.
You can also read about what to expect from day one and day three of the conference.
Hospice UK’s flagship event runs from Tuesday 10 November to Thursday 12 November, and will include plenty of talks, workshops and activities, themed around ‘the art and science of hospice care’. Within this, there will be a focus on the holistic, yet rigorous, approach to care, and entrepreneurial and creative approaches to sustainability.
Thanks for the vital support of our sponsors: Access Group, haysmacintyre, Lynas Foster, Local Hospice Lottery and LloydsPharmacy – details of which on our website.
All of the information about the conference can be found on our Hospice UK’s website, where you can still register to attend, if you haven’t already.
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