All AHPs welcome to attend Rehabilitative Palliative Care webinar series, says physio Gail Preston

Physiotherapist Gail Preston is urging colleagues to book a place on a forthcoming four-part webinar series titled Rehabilitative Palliative Care. Gail is a webinar lead in the course, which is being run by a multidisciplinary team based at the pioneering St Christopher's Hospice in south east London.

Each webinar lasts two hours and costs £15, and the first – titled Patient to Person: is a day hospice just deluxe dying for the few? – will take place on 19 October from 1-3pm. Like the others in the series, it will be preceded by an introductory session, in which participants will learn about delivering holistic care and explore ways of tackling the challenges that can arise when attempting to change practice in the workplace.

All AHPs welcome

Speaking exclusively to PhysioUpdate, Gail said: ‘Colleagues from all the allied health professions are invited to attend the webinars, particularly if they were open challenging their thoughts around holistic care and then consider how they could think about implementing it into their setting.

‘Each webinar takes the model to the next level through implementation in practical scenarios. The second webinar might be of particular interest to physios. There is still a “caring culture” in many hospitals and care homes as well as within families and I know that physios have fought for years against “pyjama paralysis”.

‘This webinar will provide further thoughts and challenges about how we may approach this and how we can encourage those around us to think a little differently about how we work, by promoting their independence and self-management, for example.'

Gail added: 'I also encourage physiotherapists to attend the fourth session, which is about identity. We have so much to learn from our psychosocial colleagues who will approach the same situation in a different way. It is a really good challenge to broaden our thinking and interactions with the people we support.’

The second webinar might be of particular interest to physios. There is still a 'caring culture' in many hospitals and care homes as well as within families and I know that physios have fought for years against 'pyjama paralysis' [Gail Preston]

The other webinars in the series are as follows

Webinar 2: 16 November (10am-12 noon)

Integrating physical activity into the caring culture – potential and possibility for the individual regardless of age or stage

Webinar 3: 12 December (12 noon-2pm) 

Eating and drinking towards end of life: making choice a reality

Webinar 4: 24 January 2023 (10am-12 noon)

‘My illness does not define me’. Identity crisis: adjustment to living with a life limiting condition

What is the aim of the webinars?

'The aim is to empower people with the knowledge of the model and to explore how we in our leadership roles (whatever our grade, we can all lead by behaviour and example) can challenge some of the current practice to ensure that the service that we are all providing is truly person centred and holistic,' Gail says. 

'We do not have all of the answers. You know your setting best, but we will share our experiences and challenges of taking this forward and hopefully you will feel inspired to really find the person within the patient. Following on from these we will also have a 'Community of Practice'. These will be small groups where we support people to implement changes or projects around this in their own environments.'

Gail currently works part-time at the hospice, having joined the team in 2011. ‘During my time at St Christopher’s, I have been involved in various projects:  I have worked on the wards, in out-patients and set up a community, volunteer-facilitated community service,' she explained.

Gail added: 'I am currently also supporting the wellbeing team, running days for people newly-referred to St Christopher’s to empower them to make changes to improve their own wellbeing. I was involved in the initial development of the model and ran one of the workshops at this year’s conference. I speak regularly to a variety of communities on ECHO sessions on many subjects from goal setting to falls prevention.' 

The webinars follow on from a successful rehabilitative palliative care that St Christopher’s Hospice held earlier this year. To find out more about the model of care and the webinars, visit: https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/rehabilitativepalliativecare/

To read about how a physio manager at St Christopher's 'drilled' her team prior to a visit from the Queen, see: https://www.physioupdate.co.uk/news/physio-managers-memories-of-drilling-team-before-queens-visit-feature-in-hospices-exhibition/