Farleigh Hospice attends the 18th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care
In June, two representatives from Farleigh Hospice attended the 18th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The EAPC promotes excellence in palliative care, and the congress attracted over 1,000 international delegates, with presentations from world-renowned specialists in all clinical disciplines within palliative care representing over 20 countries.
We were delighted to be asked to give poster presentations on two innovative Farleigh projects: the introduction of Virtual Clinical Nurse Specialists and the Living with Grief programme of bereavement support.
Sue Griffith, Farleigh’s Head of Education and Research, gave the presentation on Virtual Clinical Nurse Specialists. Due to vacancies in our care team which we were unable to fill, Farleigh looked at new ways to recruit Clinical Nurse Specialists. This led to us appointing seven very experienced nurses from outside of Essex who work remotely, supplementing our existing clinical teams. Their expertise in these ‘virtual’ roles has proved to be a real asset, enabling us to manage a 50% increase in the number of referrals. This innovative approach is future-proofing Farleigh’s services as it enables us to continue to recruit nurses with the exact skills and experience that we need.
Mark Cobbin, the former Head of Bereavement at Farleigh Hospice, spoke about the Living with Grief programme, funded by Essex County Council. This project was developed as a post pandemic response to increased bereavement needs across Essex. It takes a flexible, short-term, focussed approach to bereavement support, offering up to eight individual counselling sessions followed by group sessions with others in a similar situation. It has exceeded targets and has now been extended until March 2024.
Sue Griffith, pictured, said, “The World Congress is an important international event for Farleigh to be a part of. We have presented at previous EAPC conferences, but relished the opportunity to present these two projects on this occasion. The 2023 Congress gave us the opportunity to share our successful projects, and also to keep abreast of innovative best practice in palliative care and bereavement support from other experts around the world.“
