Working together
St Clare Hospice contributes to the field of palliative care education locally, nationally and internationally. We will support and work with you so that, together, we can ensure the right patients are referred to St Clare at the right time.
We provide a number of educational activities designed to meet the needs of our health and social care colleagues in the NHS, nursing homes, community teams and acute care settings.
St Clare Hospice Palliative Care Conference 2027
Be the first to know about early bird tickets for our next St Clare Hospice Palliative Care Conference.
Our conference returns on Friday 8th October 2027, offering health and social care professionals the opportunity to learn from experts across a broad range of disciplines and healthcare settings, including hospitals, community, care homes and hospices.
To stay up-to-date on the latest conference news – and be the first to hear about discounted ticket prices – register your interest here.
Masterclasses in palliative care: lunchtime learning for professionals
Following on from the success of the first series of Masterclass sessions, we’re delighted to be extending this programme of lunchtime lectures for professionals working in health and social care in our local community. Our new masterclass sessions will cover a variety of topics, from pressure sores in palliative care to taking a public health approach.
The hour-long sessions take place on the second Thursday of every month starting at 1pm. Click on the links below for more information and to book your place.
Date
Topic
Facilitator
If you have any questions, or difficulties booking a place, please contact: education@stclarehospice.org.uk
Advanced Communications Skills Training
Our two-day Advanced Communications Skills Training course is relevant for registered health professionals working with patients at the end of their life. Ten CPD credit points have been approved for this course by the Royal Colleges of Physicians.
National policy and research continues to emphasise the importance of effective communication skills for health and social care professionals. The positive impact on the experience of care and the wider organisation is well documented. This well evaluated, two day experiential course explores challenging communication issues from the participant’s practice.
Dates for our 2026 courses will be announced soon. To register your interest, click here.
End of Life Care webinars and seminars
We run end-of-life care webinars and seminars for our generalist and new palliative care colleagues working in West Essex and East Hertfordshire on a regular basis. These interactive lectures cover:
- Choosing to Care for Palliative Care Patients
- Pain management
- Managing Delirium and Terminal Agitation in Palliative Care
- Psychological issues
- Advance care planning
- Use of syringe drivers
- Care of the dying patient
- Ethical issues
Our December webinar is taking place online via Teams on 15th December 2025. To book, click here.
Advance Care Planning/Care of the Dying study afternoon
This face-to-face study session has been designed to equip regional healthcare professionals to initiate Advance Care Planning (ACP) discussions skillfully and in a timely manner, and to use the most appropriate ACP documentation available to their practice.
The second half of this study session will focus on caring for dying patients. The goals of care during the last days and hours of life are to ensure comfort and dignity. But, quite often identifying when patients are at this stage of life can be challenging for healthcare professionals.
With this in mind, our study afternoon here at St Clare Hospice will address topics including:
- Initating ACP discussions
- Using key ACP documentation, such as ReSPECT and P(e)ACE templates
- Diagnosing dying
- Medication consideration in the last days/weeks of life
2025 Dates
- Wednesday 19th November – 1.30pm to 5pm
For more information about these study afternoons in 2026, please email education@stclarehospice.org.uk.
Introduction to Namaste Care workshops
Namaste Care is an internationally-recognised person-centred approach to supporting people who are living with advanced dementia by engaging them in therapeutic, multi-sensory activities that promote wellbeing and quality of life.
Our Introduction to Namaste Care workshops teach people how to apply Namaste Care techniques through the use of everyday items and resources that engage a person’s senses through sound, touch, smell, taste and sight. All of which can help someone with dementia to remain connected to others by focusing on their emotional and physical needs.
These activities may include:
- offering gentle touch, e.g. through hand massage
- playing favourite music
- making and looking through a memory box
- reading favourite books and poems
- encouraging gentle movement
Our next Introduction to Namaste Care workshops are taking place on the following dates, either here at the Hospice or online via Zoom. They are open to people caring for a relative or friend with dementia, as well as to care homes and other paid care staff:
For more information, or to book your place, please email dementia@stclarehospice.org.uk or call 01279 594471.
DNACPR Study Day
Our practical DNACPR Study Day has been developed in partnership with Essex Partnership University NHS Trust (EPUT) to support senior clinicians in the local region to develop their competence and confidence in leading Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) discussions.
Delivered in person at the Hospice, clinicians will have the opportunity to practice DNACPR conversations in a safe environment, and learn through the process of feedback and self-assessment techniques. It will also be used as part of a wider competency training package ratified by provider organisations to enable senior clinicians to formally take on the role of Senior Responsible Officer in relation to DNACPR.
Admission onto this study day is by invitation only. For more information about our 2026 study day dates, please contact education@stclarehospice.org.uk.
Advance Care Planning (ACP) interactive training
Communicating end-of-life care issues, in line with patients and their relatives’ readiness and preferences, is essential to providing person-centred individualised care.
As a health care worker supporting people with palliative care needs in West Essex, you can improve your knowledge, communication skills and confidence in having these important conversations by completing our Advance Care Planning (ACP) training, which has been developed by St Clare’s medical team and Clinical Nurse Specialists.
Our interactive session covers –
- The universal principles of Advance Care Planning
- Barriers to having conversations about Advance Care Planning
- What matters to me – making my own choices and related documentation
- Medico-legal aspects of Advance Care Planning for patients with and without capacity
- Discussions on DNACPR, PEACE, RESPECT, LPA and ADRT
Our interactive session covers –
The training will involve discussions, group work, video clips, role play and practical demonstrations of the relevant documentation to help you identify patients with life-limiting conditions who are ready to talk about Advance Care Planning and confidently explore and initiate those discussions with them.
With the aim of improving collaboration, communication and sharing of experience between generalists and specialist palliative care teams by supporting each other in what can often be complex and difficult Advance Care Planning discussions.
Our face-to-face training is delivered over three hours at the place of your work, or here at St Clare Hospice in Hastingwood. For more information, email education@stclarehospice.org.uk
St Clare Hospice Learning Together Study Days
Improve your knowledge and understanding of palliative and end-of-life care at our Learning Together Study Days.
Learn from our expert clinical team and special guest speakers as we share expertise and best practice and explore the best ways to provide relief from the symptoms, pain and stress of living with a serious progressive illness – whatever the diagnosis.
Our Learning Together Study Days are designed for all health and social care professionals who work in hospitals, care homes and other settings that care for patients with palliative care needs and are suitable for the entire multidisciplinary team.
Please note: Our Study Days will return in 2026. For more information, email education@stclarehospice.org.uk.
Training for trainees and/or recently qualified healthcare professionals
We host regular trainees who are recently qualified, or who are going through early career training, so they can broaden their knowledge and experience by doing a placement at the Hospice. These include:
- Foundation year doctors
- General Practice Trainee doctors
- Specialist Registrar doctors (on their way to become Consultants in Palliative Medicine)
- Newly qualified nurses (who receive mentorship and competency development programme during their job)
- Newly qualified Allied healthcare professionals (Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Social workers)
Trainees and recently qualified health professionals wishing to undertake a placement at St Clare Hospice should contact us at education@stclarehospice.org.uk
Short-term and day placement for healthcare professionals and clinical students
We also offer short term or single day placements to healthcare professionals who want to gain insight into the work that hospice does.
For a short-term placement, the professional/student will be placed with a key member of staff or mentor. That mentor will help the professional/student to achieve their placement aims and learning objectives.
For a single day placement, professionals will get insight into hospice work by shadowing the team in our Inpatient Unit, seeing Palliative care in practice.
Professionals/students wishing to undertake a placement at St Clare Hospice should contact education@stclarehospice.org.uk
University teaching and student placements
We have strong links with universities, nursing and medical training programmes and offer placements to doctors and student nurses, occupational therapists and physiotherapists.
We are a University of Cambridge Teaching Hospice, and we receive medical students from the University as part of their training. We also receive Physician Associate and Nursing students from Anglia Ruskin University.
Our Medical Director, Dr Qamar Abbas, is a Senior Clinical Tutor at the University of Cambridge and an Associate Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University; as part of these roles, Dr Abbas contributes to these universities’ teaching seminars and workshops.
In Autumn 2024, St Clare Hospice was awarded Affiliated Healthcare Organisation Status by the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine for a period of three years from October 2024 to September 2027.
This award recognises the continued collaboration and support given to the School of Clinical Medicine by St Clare Hospice through the provision of clinical placements and teaching and the commitment and contribution to high quality clinical education.
Research and audit
We are continually involved in local and national audits to evaluate our work and learn from our practice. We also get involved regularly in research projects and recruit patients for multi-centre and multi-national research. More information on this can be found in our Quality accounts.
Join our team
It’s an exciting time to work at St Clare Hospice. We have developed new roles to help deliver our ambitious strategy of reaching more people with our services, and working more closely with our partners in the health, social care and voluntary sectors.
If you’d like to work at St Clare Hospice, take a look at the roles we currently have available on our Jobs page. Alternatively, if you’d like to find out more, have a question, or would like to arrange an informal chat with a member of our HR team, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.
Call us on 01279 773744 | Email us at hr@stclarehospice.org.uk
Find out more
You can find out about how we can help local people and how to refer to our services via our website.
Our education and training programme is kindly supported by Harlow Health Centres Trust.
