Tulip Standard Essentials of Palliative Care for Health and Social Care Assistants (2 day course)

This two-day course is designed to improve knowledge and confidence for all health and social care professionals working in all settings, who care for people with a palliative diagnosis and their families.

Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss common concerns and develop an evidenced based understanding of frequently reported symptoms, primary causes and non-pharmacological options to consider.

We will also explore psychological and emotional aspects of living with a palliative diagnosis. How to communicate effectively with patients and families to support them.

Course delivery

This session will be delivered by Claire Prendergast.

Claire has a duel role at Dorothy House, as the Lead Research Nurse and one of the Education and Professional Development Lead. Claire is committed to ensuring our course content is evidence based and current. She has a particular interest developing in those who play a supporting role in clinical care.

Who should attend?

This course is suitable for all Health and Social Care assistant roles who support people with life limiting illness. This includes all Hospice non-registered staff, care home support workers, Supported living support workers, community carers and hospital Healthcare Assistants.

Course details

This evidence based course is face: face and will include scenarios and sharing of experience as well as an element of information giving.

The participants are encouraged to think about their role in providing care to their patients of clients, and share experiences.

Each day will also contain a practical element that will enable you to assess and help with common symptoms that people experience in palliative care.

Experienced palliative practitioners support the course delivery.

The course content aligns to the Ambitions for Palliative and end of life care national framework (NHS England, 2022), The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance; Caring for adults in their last days of life (NICE, 2015) and The Code of conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England (Skill for care, 2013).

Course content

By using a mix of teaching methods the course aims:

To understand the principles around person centred care particularly when a person is palliative or at the End of Life.
To understand and explore the challenges of communication in emotionally charged situations.
To review the complex nature of caring for someone at the End of their Life, looking at holistic and non-pharmacological symptom support for: Nausea, Breathlessness, Anxiety, Pain and Fatigue.
To develop a Tool box of skills in order to support and care for your patients.