Blended learning

Introduction to Palliative and End of Life Care

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If you support or care for people with a non-curative illness, long-term condition or old age and frailty and if you are new in post/ less experienced in the health and care sector, this course will help you gain an understanding of palliative and end of life care, develop your skills and apply them to your practice. The course is taught by experts and clinicians in palliative and end of life care and you will be supported in practice by a work-based mentor. Learning will be a mix of online and classroom based teaching with interactive activities and simulated scenarios and there is one to one support from your tutor. You will have a workbook to guide your learning though out the course which will be signed off as evidence of your completion of the course

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Course details

Course provider: St. Gemma’s Hospice

Eligibility - You must be aged 19+ and live in West Yorkshire.

Industry: Health

Dates: course will run up until December 2024

Duration: 6 weeks

Venue: Blended learning

Course overview

This is a six week blended learning course aimed at:

Current H&SC staff.
New starters.
Staff wishing to better understand end-of-life care and may want to progress to a sector specialism
Returners looking to ‘top-up’ a skills set.
Domiciliary care staff.

The teaching and learning is based on HEE End of Life Learning outcomes (2019) and also Common Core Principles and Competences for Social Care and Health Workers Working with Adults at the End of Life (2014).

The programme includes the following sessions:

Introduction to the programme.
Introduction to palliative and end of life care.
Communication skills- difficult conversations at the end of life.
Holistic and multidisciplinary approach to symptom management.
Care in the last days of life.
Advance care planning.
Frailty and dementia.
Grief, loss and bereavement.
Self-care and resilience.
Celebration event, sign off workbook and evaluation.

Because of the emotive nature and the enhanced experience of learning through practical simulation scenarios, the majority of the taught component is classroom based.

You must be assigned a work-place mentor as a requirement for enrolling on the programme. You will receive a workbook to work though over the course of the programme. The workbook will comprise of information, reflective exercises, and tasks linked to competencies. You will use your workbooks to enhance discussions in the taught sessions and to work through with their mentor to evidence achieving competencies in practice.

As part of the course you will have access to a learning zone hosting further resources along with an online discussion forum.

On completion of the course you will have an enhanced understanding of supporting people who are living towards the end of their life, and also their families. You will be able to take a holistic approach to support individualised care by recognising the physical, psychosocial, spiritual and emotional needs of the person. In doing so you will help to maintain a person’s quality of life and dignity, and communicate with them and their families with honesty and sensitivity.