King's College London

In December, the Faculty hosted the first two inaugural lectures of the 2018-19 series at the Cicely Saunders Institute. This new series of lectures is the first since the Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery joined with the Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation in 2017.

Professor Lynne Turner Stokes presented ‘Academic rehabilitation: a road less travelled by’. Lynne is the Northwick Park Chair of Rehabilitation Medicine and her talk charted her career journey to fulfil a key ambition of establishing an evidence-base for the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of rehabilitation. Lynne highlighted the interesting and productive partnership which arose between rehabilitation and palliative care, which are similar complex interventions. Over the past 20 years, Lynne’s programme of research has led to a raft of measures, including a costing methodology and a payment model for rehabilitation services, and her work has influenced policy worldwide.

Professor Richard Harding is the Herbert Dunhill Chair at the Cicely Saunders Institute and his lecture was entitled ‘Achieving equality at the end of life: the emergence of global health palliative care’. Richard spoke of his career advancing the science of outcome measurement. He spoke of how his work reviewing palliative care in sub-Saharan Africa highlighted the lack of valid and reliable outcome measures suitable for this context - prompting crucial Palliative Outcome Scale development work. The use of outcome measures across Africa is now increasingly embedded in practice and is improving the quality of care for patients and their families.

Professor Harding said of his inaugural lecture: 'It was a pleasure to take the opportunity to reflect on my 20 years in what has become the Cicely Saunders Institute. Delivering my inaugural lecture after having arrived at King’s as a PhD student demonstrated that palliative care is a rapidly growing area of academic research in an Institute that provides opportunity for career development.

My focus on global dimensions of palliative care also enabled me to reflect on how far we have come - from “exporting” the specialism of palliative care to being part of true partnership with exchange of ideas, innovation and emerging leaders. I look forward to continued growth in the next phase of my academic career, working with partners in the UK and internationally to deliver research that influences policy and practice and makes a difference for patients and families.'

At the reception following the talks, there was a lively poster showcase from some of our PhD students. This was an excellent occasion for the Faculty community to come together and learn about each other’s work. Posters included research and analysis on the care of frail older people, people with advanced illness experiencing breathlessness and children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions.