PATCH National Launch October 14th 2015
More than 100 invited guests attended the Scottish launch of PATCH in the beautiful Playfair Room of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
The speakers and our key messages
Mr Alastair Gibson, a member of the College Council, gave a cordial welcome to all. The guests included supporters of PATCH, hospital and hospice staff, members of charities, Universities, and government officials.
She asked the audience to support PATCH to ensure that patients and families can access specialist palliative care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in all hospitals in Scotland by:
- Seeking PATCH funding for improvements in palliative care in one’s own hospital.
- Fundraising or finding funds for projects submitted to PATCH.
- Subscribing to the newsletter or submitting one’s experience to the website.
Outline of PATCH projects so far
PATCH is funding a training course for newly qualified doctors on talking to relatives about dying. We have also funded:
- a Glasgow medical student to work with the Tayside hospital palliative care service and a second student to attend a national conference. She won first prize for her 5-year report of an acute palliative care unit.
- a surgical staff nurse working in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to do an MSc in Palliative Care and a second staff nurse in the same ward to do a Post Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care.
- our first research project – a joint oncology and palliative care one looking at why patients with cancer are admitted to hospital in pain and out of hours.
- a project to develop a programme for young doctors helping them to communicate with families about patients who are dying. The programme will be run by the Clinical Skills Centre, University of Dundee, and the project will start in early 2016.
Projects that need funding
Projects that PATCH has identified but where we still need the necessary funds include:
- 5-day palliative care courses for hospital staff – a Scottish version of the “end of life care for all” programme in England. St Columba’s hospice nurses will work alongside hospital nurses. We regard this as a very exciting cooperative project in which hundreds of nurses across Scottish hospitals would stand to benefit.
- PATCH learning system – A PATCH interactive course, designed with the University of Dundee. Palliative care staff and hospital staff would learn together about looking after hospital patients with palliative care needs.