The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care Annual Conference is one of the premier events in Scotland for those with an interest in palliative and end of life care.  Each year we aim to feature a mix of high quality speakers and delegate interaction, providing:

– an opportunity for learning relevant to practice and workplace – a chance to network, to share information and good practice

– challenging perspectives and energising inspiration
This year’s annual conference will take place on Thursday 22 September, at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh.

Online booking is available here:  Conference online registration  Please leave the breakout session choice blank, you will be emailed to request your preference, once the programme is finalised.

The call for posters can be accessed here: Call for Posters

Plenary Speakers

Dr Catherine Calderwood

Chief Medical Officer for Scotland

Catherine Calderwood will be giving a scene-setting keynote address. Dr Calderwood recently published her annual report for 2014-15. Entitled Realistic Medicine, it includes a discussion of people’s ‘experience of death’ and the potential for inappropriate interventions towards the end of life.

Professor Charles Normand

Edward Kennedy Professor of Health Policy and Management, University of Dublin, Trinity College and visiting professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Charles Normand will speak about health economic evaluation of palliative care and making the case for palliative care in times of austerity.

Professor Brendan McCormick

Head of the Division of Nursing/Head Graduate School and Associate Director Centre for Person-centred Practice Research at Queen Margaret University

We are pleased to welcome Brendan McCormick, who will be discussing person-centred practice.

Professor Myra Bluebond-Langner

True Colours Chair in Palliative Care for Children and Young People at University College London, Institute of Child Health

Myra Bluebond-Langner will discuss using research to increase understanding of the illness experience, as a basis for reducing suffering, drawing on work from paediatric palliative care.

Workshops

 It takes a village volunteer

Dr Ros Scott, Honorary Research Fellow University of Dundee

Stewart Wilson, Chief Executive, Cruse Bereavement Care

It is suggested that 90% of bereavement support is delivered by the voluntary sector of which 80% is given by volunteers. Bereaved people often say that friends, family and colleagues avoid talking to them about their loss. Indeed sometimes people will cross the road to avoid engaging with them. So what is it that motivates people from communities to volunteer to be alongside others at such a difficult time in their lives and do they really make a difference?

This session will explore these questions, drawing on the findings from a small pilot study and the lived experiences of community bereavement volunteers.

The full programme will follow shortly.