Background A restructure of the education team within a multi-site national charity delivering palliative and neurological care provided the opportunity to develop a programme of education that met learning needs for the whole organisation, in particular, specialist education in palliative and end of life care.

Aim To ensure our non-medical clinical colleagues have the education to deliver palliative and end of life care with confidence in any of the organisation’s settings.

Method The Health Education England (HEE) (2019) learning outcomes for end of life care were accessed and mapped to each clinical role within the organisation, enabling the identification of learning that could be addressed with in-house programmes. An in-house palliative and end of life care programme was designed, to include a 5 ½ day course for colleagues new to palliative care. A pilot of the 5 ½ day course was launched, with 12 participants from 3 sites booked. The materials were designed to be quality-assured so that specialists and educators could deliver them at each site.

Results Colleagues were keen for such a course and specialist colleagues supported its production and delivery. Evaluations of the days delivered have been positive, and include increases in confidence levels based on learning outcomes of each day (Royal College of Nursing. RCN Quality Assurance Framework: Evaluation Model of Education, Learning and Development. 2022). A half-day virtual session to be held after three months will require the participants to report back on the results of making a pledge to improve practice, with the potential to demonstrate theory improving practice. Participants from hospice and neurological care included nurses, healthcare assistants and an occupational therapist and this mix provided fertile learning in itself (Cust. Nurs Times. 2021 Apr. 27). The course is designed to be interactive and most participants engaged fully.

Conclusion Colleagues are keen to have learning opportunities to develop their ability to support service users. Developing a course that can be replicated throughout the organisation enables greater equity for staff and service users.