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St Cuthbert’s Hospice is an active member of the regional Hospice Human Resources and Educational Collaborative that aims to strengthen investment in and delivery of hospice training and the commissioning of specialist palliative care and end of life training.

We have well-established links with local Universities in the region in particular Northumbria and Teesside Universities from which we accept students from nursing and allied health programmes on practice placements. A number of our qualified nursing team have undertaken mentorship training and periodic update to support students on placement.  We are aiming to grow this number so that we can support students from other professional disciplines.

We have developed strong links with colleagues in the Continuing Workforce Development and postgraduate studies team at Northumbria University.  We have signed a memorandum of cooperation to support the development and strengthening of our research activity with the long-term aim of becoming a research active / practice development Hospice.  To date we have two funded evaluative research projects in partnership with the University:

  • Evaluation of our ‘Everything in Place’ project
  • Evaluation of impact of Namaste Care for those living with dementia

The hospice has been increasingly active at projecting our work to our peer networks at international, national and regional level with staff speaking or presenting posters at a number or conferences and workshops as follows:

Past conference and poster presentations:

  • Dr Pippa Lovell & George Bell – Poster presentation on ‘Pressure Ulcer audit and differentiation at end of life’ accepted at the BMJ International Forum on Quality & Safety in Healthcare in Singapore 26-28 September 2016.
  • Admiral Nurse Sharron Tolman – Poster presentation on ‘Volunteer supported Namaste Care’ accepted at the 11th Dementia UK Congress in Brighton 1-3 November 2016.
  • Louise Johnson – Community Liaison Officer – Poster presentation on ‘Everything in Place; a good death is a well-planned death’ at Hospice UK National Conference in Liverpool 16-18 November 2016.
  • Louise Johnson – Community Liaison Officer – Poster presentation on ‘Memories in the wind, a family picnic’ at Hospice UK National Conference in Liverpool 16-18 November 2016.
  • Nicola Kendall poster presentation ‘What works, for whom and in which circumstances when implementing the Namaste Advanced Dementia Care Programme in the home setting’ Marie Curie Palliative Care Conference-6th October 2017, Royal Society of Medicine.
  • Nicola Kendall conference presentation ‘Namaste Care Project’’ Dementia Congress-8th and 9th Nov 2017 Doncaster Racecourse.

Conference presentations and poster displays for 2018:

  • Sharron Tolman & Nicola Kendall conference presentation ‘Title Namaste Care in the community’ Dementia Conference in Edinburgh 18th April 2018.
  • Nicola Kendall conference presentation ‘Namaste Care- Harnessing community compassion’ International Nurses Day Conference- Newton Aycliffe 11th May 2018.

Conference speakers:

  • George Bell Clinical Services Manager Speaker ‘Delivering personalised care to end of life patients’ Nursing Event in Practice Conference Hardwick Hall G. June 2017.
  • George Bell Speaker ‘Hospice Care’ HefmA* National Conference Harrogate 11-12 May 2017.

(*Health Estates and Facilities Management Association)

Publications:

We are committed to ensuring our work is promoted to the wider palliative and end of life care community, our aim being to increase our contribution to sharing practice development and innovation published articles.

Recent and future educational activity

On 24 January 2018, we hosted a regional Sue Ryder Care supported study day exploring the ‘Human Rights Act’ and the implications for palliative and end of life care practice.

We regularly host Northumbria University Palliative Care Masterclasses the last session Contemporary ‘Challenges in Palliative Care’ was held on 15 December 2017 the next master class is planned for:

  • ‘Patient and carer perspectives in advanced disease/end of life care’ 22 June 2018 Facilitated by principal lecturer Joanne Atkinson and senior lecturer Isabel Quinn

We host the Annual Hospice UK North East regional roadshow for Chairs of Hospices, Trustees, Chief Executives and Senior Managers with this year’s event scheduled for 20 June 2018.

Supporting Service transformation and delivery

To support our programme of service transformation and delivery we have invested significantly in developing our teams.

  • In transforming our day service into a rehabilitative model delivered in our new Living Well Centre we supported a number of our registered nurses to achieve diploma level qualifications in reflexology, aromatherapy and mindfulness and well as our cohort of health care assistants to develop complementary skills in Reiki and Indian Head massage.
  • On our inpatient unit, we are supporting a number of our registered nurses to access the CPD framework to complete graduate level qualifications with a pathway in palliative and end of life care.  We are also supporting our cohort of senior staff nurses to access the Clinical Examination & History Taking and Non-medical prescribing modules to help us transform access to in-patient care by widening the envelope when we can admit to the unit in the absence of medical cover.

Internal training:

St Cuthbert’s Hospice Human Resources Team plan induction and mandatory training for staff and volunteers with regular dates across the year as follows:

Non-Clinical

Annual programme of dates for delivery are June 2018, September 2018, December 2018 and March 2019 the specific date to be confirmed.

The non-clinical training can be delivered via assessed workbook, e-learning or taught study days and covers a range of topics including:
Training areaSignificance
Anti-RadicalisationMandatory
Non-clinical Moving & HandlingMandatory
Fire SafetyMandatory
Health & SafetyMandatory
Equality & DiversityMandatory
Infection ControlMandatory
Information Governance(workbook/e-learning)Mandatory
Safeguarding Children & AdultsMandatory

Catering staff

Training areaSignificance
Anti-RadicalisationMandatory
Non-clinical Moving & HandlingMandatory
Fire SafetyMandatory
Health & SafetyMandatory
Equality & DiversityMandatory
Infection ControlMandatory
Information Governance(workbook/e-learning)Mandatory
Safeguarding Children & AdultsMandatory
Food HygieneMandatory
The topics covered for Hospice Induction need only be completed once whereas mandatory training requires updates on a regular basis or where otherwise stated. Induction also includes the following:
TopicApproaches to learning
Care Quality CommissionWorkbook
SecurityWorkbook
CommunicationsWorkbook
Dealing with GriefOn-site training
Professional BoundariesOn-site training
Compassionate ResponsesOn-site training
Dementia AwarenessOn-site training
Everything in PlaceOn-site training
Mental Health AwarenessOn-site training
Code of Conduct for Health Care Assistants (HCA’s only)On-site – delivered at local level in the department
1-1 meetings with all members of the SMTLine manager to arrange for staff only (within 2 weeks of starting in post)
1-1 meetings with managers of key staff from relevant departmentsLine Managers to arrange for staff and volunteers where applicable

Hospice Induction checklist (staff only) includes topics such as:

Introduction to St Cuthbert’s, Job Role, Conditions of Employment, Equal opportunities/Training and Development, Health and Safety, General rules, CommunicationLine Managers and other appropriate managers to complete with new employee

Hospice Induction checklist (Volunteer only) includes topics such as:

Introduction to St Cuthbert’s, The volunteer role, volunteer agreement, Equal opportunities/support and feedback, Health and Safety, General rules/welfare facilities , CommunicationLine Managers and other appropriate managers to complete with volunteer within 2 weeks of commencement in role

Clinical

The proposed dates are subject to confirmation

Mandatory clinical training is specially designed to support medical, nursing and allied health professional staff maintain and update practice/research developments in palliative and end of life care and affirm clinical competence in core skills for practice a typical programme includes:

Clinical Staff (Doctors, Nurses, Admiral Nurse, HCA, OT’s, Physiotherapists)

Training areaSignificance
Clinical Moving & HandlingMandatory
Fire SafetyMandatory
Health & SafetyMandatory
Equality & DiversityMandatory
Clinical Infection ControlMandatory
Information Governance (NHS e-learning access)Mandatory
Safeguarding Children & AdultsMandatory
Food hygiene (Nurses & HCA’s only)Mandatory
Blood Transfusion (Nurses/Doctors/Admiral nurse only)Mandatory
Blood Transfusion Awareness (HCA’s only)Mandatory
CPR, basic life support & anaphylaxisMandatory
Medicines Management Competencies (Nurses only)Mandatory
Clinical skills and competence are maintained with regular training throughout the year on venepuncture, catheterisation, wound care and medical gases, symptom control etc.Staff are also updated about developments / advances in end of life care planning including the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty.

Annual programme of dates for delivery are June 2018, September 2018, December 2018 and March 2019 the specific date to be confirmed.

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