Hospice celebrates 10 years of educating professionals!

Hospice celebrates 10 years of educating professionals around the World.

Teaching, research and professional development has been a very important objective of Princess Alice Hospice since its conception. The Education Centre is now in its third decade and continues to improve the knowledge and skills of healthcare professionals locally, nationally and on the international platform.

An event was held on November 24 to celebrate the achievement of the European Certificate of Essential Palliative Care course’s 10th anniversary. The celebration followed an update study day hosted by the course authors Prof Max Watson and Dr Caroline Lucas. The course began as the brainchild of Dr Max Watson when he was a Registrar at the Hospice.

This highly respected qualification now runs at a number of sites in addition to the Hospice. Belfast started to run the course in 2003, Birmingham followed in 2006 and Londonderry became a provider in 2009.  Outside the United Kingdom the course runs in Limerick and Dublin in the Republic of Ireland and an adapted course runs in India and Nepal; it has run in Cyprus since 2008 and also operates in Kyrgstan. The course will grow further when it runs in Aberdeen from next spring and in Malta from the autumn of 2012.

Already 1,484 students successfully completed the certificate and this number will continue to increase as do the number of providers. The aim for students on the eight week distance learning course is to develop their understanding of the principles and practice of palliative care and to integrate up to date evidence and knowledge into their daily practise whether in a Hospice, acute care setting, nursing home or in the community.

Newly appointed Hospice patron Baroness Ilora Finlay attended the update session and celebratory function and gave a keynote speech. She was joined by Professor Michael Joy, High Sherriff of Surrey, former Hospice Medical Director, Andrew Hoy and Dr Vincent Zammit from Malta. Past employees of the Hospice who were involved in the course attended along with Max Watson. They joined a large number of current Princess Alice Hospice Clinical Nurse Specialists and Doctors.

Baroness Illora Finlay was helped in cutting a cake by 10 year old Sarah, the daughter of Jo Meyer from the Hospice’s retail team. Special recognition was given to Catherine Hazell for her 10 years of dedicated service to the certificate course.

If you would like further information about Princess Alice Hospice, its future study days, courses and conferences, please visit www.pah.org.uk, contact 01372 461 869 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it