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.
End of Life Care study days and webinars
We run regular study days for our generalist and new Palliative care colleagues on regular basis. This day contains interactive lectures on:
- 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
We are running quarterly End of Life care webinars, via Microsoft Teams, on the following dates:
For more information about our study days, including links to book your place, visit our Education and Training event page.
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 sessions will take place on the second Tuesday of every month (except May 2023), 1-2pm, and will run on a monthly basis. Click on the links below for more information and to book your place.
| Date | Topic | Facilitator |
|---|---|---|
| 14th November 2023 | Palliative care for heart failure | Tina Croft & Zoe Hollins |
| 12th December 2023 | Acupuncture in Palliative care | Trevor Farrington |
If you have any questions, or difficulties booking a place, please contact: education@stclarehospice.org.uk
Advanced Communications Skills Training
We annually run an Advanced Communications Skills Training two day course. This course is relevant for registered health professionals working with patients at the end of their life. 10 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.
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.
The next Advanced Communications Skills Training course is being held on 29th and 30th January 2024. Places are limited and can be booked by emailing: education@stclarehospice.org.uk
Caring for patients in the dying phase
This is a collaborative, face-to-face education workshop, organised by St Clare Hospice and Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, giving attendees an opportunity to learn from experts in the field of palliative care and increase their confidence, skills and knowledge in relation to caring for patients who are actively dying.
Care of the dying patient generally refers to care in the last days or hours of life. The goals of care during the last hours and days of life are to ensure comfort and dignity. Quite often, when healthcare providers may not have expertise in palliative care, identifying when patients are at this stage of life can be challenging. With that in mind, a study afternoon is arranged at St Clare Hospice to address topics of:
- Diagnosing dying
- Symptom assessment approaches at the end of life
- Prescribing considerations.
The next Caring for patients in the dying phase workshop is being held on the 1st November at St Clare Hospice.
For more information, contact: training@stclarehospice.org.uk
DNACPR Study Day
We are delighted to announce a new practical DNACPR Study Day, developed in partnership with Essex Partnership University NHS Trust (EPUT). This collaborative study day will support senior clinicians in the local region to develop their competence and confidence in leading Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) discussions.
This practical study day will be 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.
The next DNACPR session is on Tuesday 12th March 2024.
Admission onto this study day is by invitation only. For more information, contact: training@stclarehospice.org.uk
Level 2 Psychological Skills Training
Cancer and Palliative Care Level 2 Psychological skills training session in West Essex, will run again in 2024.
This will be a one day training course aimed at Clinical Nurse Specialist’s working in Cancer and Palliative Care, providing Level 2 psychological support to patients (as per the NICE guidelines, 2004). Attendee’s should ideally have already attended advanced communications skills training as a pre requisite, and regularly be attending monthly Level 2 clinical supervision sessions.
The course will cover Psychological Assessment and Intervention skills, as well as focussing on well-being through self-care exercises. It will be facilitated by the Psychology Service for West Essex and hosted by St Clare Hospice, with 12 spaces available via invitation only.
Please note, this course will run again in 2024. To register your interest in being considered for acceptance on the next course, contact: education@stclarehospice.org.uk
Training for trainees and/or recently qualified healthcare professionals
We have regular trainees who are recently qualified or are going through early career training who 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: Sam Haythorpe via Samantha.Haythorpe@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: Sam Haythorpe via Samantha.Haythorpe@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.
St Clare Hospice Palliative Care Conference
The third St Clare Hospice Palliative Care Conference will take place on Friday 10th October 2025.
The conference will be an opportunity to learn from experts across a broad range of disciplines and healthcare settings, including hospitals, community, care homes and hospices.
To register your interest and receive priority early-bird booking notifications, click here.
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.
