Welcome to the St Christopher's Learning Hub page. As well as our well-established programme of high quality, cutting-edge, specialist palliative care education, designed for those working in the UK and abroad, we have a developing programme of courses and training for our local generalist partners; those who often provide the bulk of the hands-on care to people approaching the end of life. We are facing a time of unprecedented change in the NHS with significant economic constraints and an aging population who increasingly require ongoing health and social care. St Christopher’s has therefore been challenged to make significant changes to its approach to delivery of education and training. For the foreseeable future it will be essential to ensure the training and development needs are met both of specialist practitioners and of the wider and increasingly integrated health and social care workforce. In 2015, in partnership with clinicians from all disciplines and departments across the organization, we plan to deliver, not only a programme of traditional study days and conferences but to utilise underpinning evidence-based theory and principles of person-centred care to develop further innovative learning experiences for all. The QELCA programme, for example, has demonstrated that specialist palliative care practitioners can significantly impact care delivery across a range of settings by making use of their skills as role models and facilitators of learning to change attitudes towards the care of the dying. These are challenging yet exciting times and we are endeavouring to respond creatively.
