Public Health Palliative Care Training for members of the MDT

Multidisciplinary Team Training in Public Health Palliative Care

Why is Multidisciplinary Team Training needed?

The social and physical morbidities of the experiences of death, dying, loss and care giving happen irrespective of cause of death, diagnosis, age or any other criteria. These include anxiety and depression, loneliness and isolation, lost school days and work days, drug and alcohol addition and worsening physical health. This happens with death from chronic disease, as well as sudden death, murder, suicide, accidents and natural disasters. Public health palliative care takes a whole population approach, in which every can get access to support. In addition, 1% of the population die each year and 9 people are directly affected by this. Everyone has a role to play in supporting people undergoing these experiences, whether this be schools, workplaces, places of worship or neighbourhoods. Professional services and communities need to work in equal partnerships to achieve this.

The basis for the public health approach draws on the theory, evidence base and practice methods of public health, including community engagement and development, prevention, harm reduction and early intervention. The significance of the emergence of this field has implications for the basis, theory, clinical practice, service redesign, strategy, education, and research in the delivery of palliative care in multiple settings.

With the increasing relevance of its application, there is a need multidisciplinary team clinicians to gain the knowledge and skills that directly influence clinical practice and service provision of for palliative care teams. Compassionate Communities UK has developed an educational module covering the relevant areas.

The training curriculum for Specialist Registrars in palliative care in the UK now includes the public health approach, woven into a number of different aspects of training. However, the training is something needed for both specialists in training and multidisciplinary team members.

What does the training involve?

Broad learning outcome for trainees:

Understand the theoretical basis for public health palliative care and be able to utilise these

principles in clinical practice.

1. Develop a theoretical basis of the history and practice of public health palliative care

2. Apply the principles of public health palliative care in clinical practice

3. Understand the context of death, dying, loss and care giving as a social experience

which has medical aspects

4. Understand that death, dying, loss and care giving has positive outcomes in addition

to sadness and loss.

5. Understand that a population based approach gives a different perspective to service

provision, particularly where access to services is unequal.

6. Be able to plan services which provide equity of access

The MDT clinicians training will have 3 different delivery modes:

1. There will be two half day training days - Thursday 11 Sept 2025 @ 2pm and Thursday 18th Sept 2025 @ 2pm - both lasting for three hours.

2. A series of five 1.5 hour lectures every Thursday @ 3pm - 25 Sept, 2 Oct, 9 Oct, 16 Oct, 23 Oct

3. The practice and application of clinical skills that will be reviewed as part of a group 2 hour workshop, delivered either online or in person - Tbc

5 lectures, 40 minutes lecture, 20 minutes discussion

1. Community, circles of care, relationships and health

2. Health promotion, harm reduction, early intervention

3. Compassionate City Charter

4. Positive and negative outcomes

5. Clinical compassionate community skills

* Lecture series (1 hour each)

1. Vulnerable groups and equity

2. Bereavement

3. Service redesign

4. Research methods

* 2 hour Workshop on compassionate community skills to discuss experiences and outcomes

of putting them into the clinical setting.

* Monthly E cho Reflection Sessions

In addition, we will have a monthly Echo reflection session, open to all past and present SpR and MDT course attendees, held on a Tuesday @ 1pm. These hour long sessions are an open invitation to discuss relevant issues and topics, whilst also providing support to fellow colleagues in similar circumstances.

Who delivers the training?

Professor Allan Kellehear – Clinical Professor, University of Vermont, USA

Dr Julian Abel – Director, Compassionate Communities UK

Dr Libby Sallnow, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Camden, Islington ELiPSe and

UCLH & HCA Palliative Care Service

Dr Joseph Sawyer, SpR Palliative Care and PhD candidate, UCLH

Dr Kerrie Noonan, Director, Death Literacy Institute, Australia

Cost: £500 per person, maximum of 30 people in a single course