Welcome to the July 2024 newsletter from Supportive Care UK. We've got so much to share with you; here are the highlights from the last few months, as well as some updates about new opportunities and services.

We're excited to tell you about something new that we've been piloting with St Mary's Hospice in Ulverston, Cumbria: a remote palliative care pharmacy.The service is being delivered by five specialist palliative care pharmacists – Andrew Dickman, Joanne Collins, Janki Patel, Oliver Williams, and Melanie Presland – and provides comprehensive medication management and monitoring, backed up by our excellent governance structure.If you're struggling to get expert advice on the right medication for your patients, this could be the perfect solution. To start a conversation, email info@supportive.care.

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Working with SCUK has been an excellent experience from the very beginning. They have always been extremely flexible in modifying our package to suit our hospice’s needs, and they’ve recently instigated access to a specialist pharmacist consultant, which addresses another long-standing need for our area.

Val Stangoe, St Mary's Hospice

The Supportive Care UK family has grown considerably since we were last in touch, with additional hospitals and hospices using us for regular and ad-hoc on-call and OOH support.In the last three months, we've started partnering with St Margaret's Hospice, Willen Hospice, and Pilgrims Hospices, as well as several members of the Marie Curie Hospice Group.We're also working with South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust and Harefield Hospital. Welcome to you all.

Our education curriculum programme has now been running for six months, and we've had some excellent feedback from attendees. Here's what some of them had to say about their Difficult Conversations session:"Brilliant presentation. Full of useful phrases to be used in practice. Engaging throughout. Safe space to ask questions. Looking forward to the next one."

"Loved the scenario about TEP discussions and commonly asked questions. Really valuable information."

"Really well paced, and easy to engage with the main speaker. Some of the best palliative care teaching I've had!" And the good news is, you can drop in and take part in these remote sessions on a pay-as-you-go basis; there's no need to sign up to the whole programme. You'll also get a CPD certificate at the end of each one you attend.We're running some of our most popular sessions later in the year, including two levels of Difficult Conversations, Advance Care Planning, Constipation, and Delirium in SPC Settings. You can find out more and book on our website; it's updated regularly with details about any new sessions or dates. Feel free to share the link with your education lead, and let us know if they would like to be added to our distribution list.

We regularly ask for feedback, to help us refine and perfect our services. And recently, one of the things that has come through really strongly is how much our partners value the flexible nature of our services.For example, we're helping two members of the Marie Curie Hospice Group in different ways that match their particular needs. For their Newcastle hospice, that means regular OOH support to improve consultant work-life balance, whereas for the Belfast team, we're delivering ad-hoc cover to fill any gaps due to absence or holidays.If you think you might need some extra help to run a full service over the summer, whether on an ad-hoc or a more regular basis, please get in touch; we'd be happy to work out a solution for you.

We're all about making a difference to our partners and their patients, so we've started a monthly awards initiative to celebrate the members of our team who are doing just that.

Who's making a difference?‍

Our first winner is Dr Matt Carey who, as well as being part of the Supportive Care UK team, works as a palliative medicine consultant in Oxford, with a special interest in renal care.

‍What's he doing to stand out?

‍Matt has many skills, but we're particularly keen to highlight the way he documents his communication, coaching, and advice. His notes tell a clear story about the situation, the patient and their context, the type of support that has been sought, and his rationale for the advice he has given. This gives our partners reassurance, and helps us understand the full story. He's also been complimented on his supportive approach to our partners' teams.

‍Our partners say:‍

"Matt is so supportive with all the cases we bring to him. He encourages us as a team to put suggestions forward, he is never judgemental, and he acknowledges how hard we work to support our patients. His support has been invaluable to me in my own personal development and the development of our team/service."
‍Bedfordshire Community Palliative Care Team

‍Matt says:‍

‍"I take real pride in making sure I'm as clear as possible when communicating with our partners; I'm often asked to help with complex problems, so it's all the more important to make sure everything is explained in a way that everyone can understand and apply. I love the work I do with Supportive Care UK and enjoy knowing that I'm making a difference."