Season 2 Episode 4 Hospice UK Conference, Deafness, Ethics and Islamic community and palliative care

welcome to our September Clinical ECHO on Wednesday 30 September at 3.30 pm. It’s a full-on meeting, with a wonderfully eclectic programme! Matt will kick us off with four musings that have occupied him over the summer, exploring patterns of sleep, neuropathic pain descriptors, new sources of evidence for palliative care clinicians, and quantum understandings of consciousness and dying. Kate will then take us to Sweden, sharing her research on thirst in palliative care. We have a first for Clinical ECHO with Sir David Spiegelhalter, our first Knight of the realm speaker, who will take a statistical look at uncertainty. Sir David is renowned not only for his outstanding work in statistics, but also for his remarkable ability to make complex ideas accessible, engaging and understandable. We’ll also hear from Lucy Carpenter about changes in bereavement leave legislation, and from Gloria Chan, who will give us a preview of what to expect at the forthcoming Hospice UK conference. As always, it promises to be a stimulating and wide-ranging Clinical ECHO, with plenty to think about!.

The July first Clinical ECHO. Matt takes a look at the challenges of looking after patients where the therapeutic relationship is strained. How do we provide good care and also look after ourselves and our teams. Kate looks at a paper examining the content of Hospice Websites in the UK. We hear from Hospice UK about their new programme seeking improve care for those experiencing socio-economic hardship and Professor Fliss Murtagh outlines an opportunity for Hospices to explore the use of AI within the in-patient setting. Lots has been happening this month also to keep up to date with. Hope you find it helpfu.l Max, Matt and Kate

This ECHO Matt has been preoccupied with the issues surrounding burnout and its implications not so much for us as individuals but for our organisations. Kate has been looking at the use of an Ethics consultation service across German Palliative Care services We look forward to hearing from Derek Willis as he describes how he has developed a palliative care collaboration for people with rare neurological conditions such as Muscular dystrophy. We are so pleased also that Fliss Murtagh is also joining us and it is a fantastic opportunity to hear Fliss outlining the amazing work which she and others have been doing looking at the health economics of palliative care delivery and how our services save money in terms of end of life care over the last year of life. We have already highlighted this 2026 paper. In times of economic restriction Fliss’s commentary will be invaluable in our conversations with commissioners and politicians on the importance, economic benefit and system need of sustainable, uniform palliative care services across the UK.

The April Clinical ECHO is focussed on populations who may not sit comfortably within traditional Palliative Care systems and services. Matt takes a look at the rapidly increasing number of synthetic “recreational”drugs and the challenges in delivering Palliative Care to patients who are using such medications both from a symptom management viewpoint as well as in terms of keeping staff, patients and families “safe.” Kate looks at a paper from Canada looking at the factors surrounding the concept of homelessness and the definitions useful to organisations seeking to help those termed by society at large as “homeless”. Audrey Roulston looks at deaths in Prisons across the UK in a study examining all such deaths over a four year period. We also celebrate the first ever Greener Palliative Care Awards with Kate Crossland who explains the award system and why it has been created. Finally we here from Anita on the work being done to improve the career development pathway of palliative care nurses in England, work which is due to report back by the end of July.

The clinical ECHO from the Palliative Care Congress in Brighton covers a range of areas. Matt and Max outline what has been happen9ng in the Palliative Care World this past Month. Kate introduces the latest "Temel" paper, this time looking at financial analysis of Palliative services. We hear from Dr. Helen McGee on the use of AI to improve efficiency and reach of community Palliative Care services . We conclude with (Dr.) Jeremy Sassoon a former psychiatrist and now Jazz musician giving his take on palliative care and caring his latest single Older and Wiser. We hope you enjoy the ECHO, Max Matt and Kate.