King's College London

It is estimated that up to 90% of people in the UK will need palliative care before they die. This includes pain and symptom management, addressing practical needs, and help with planning for future care needs. But widespread healthcare inequalities, variable staff confidence and skills to provide palliative care, and lack of access to information, result in a large number of people not receiving the care they need.

The new Impact Centre for Palliative and End-of-Life Care at King's will accelerate better care for people affected by death, dying and bereavement. There is an urgent need for a centre of this kind, which has the potential to make a transformative impact on people affected by life-limiting illness, and their families and carers.

"Too many people die without the care they need and could benefit from. We have evidence of what works, but too often this evidence is not translated into care. The Impact Centre for Palliative and End-of-Life Care will unlock the value of this evidence." - Professor Katherine Sleeman, Laing Galazka Chair in Palliative Care, Cicely Saunders Institute at King’s.

Aims

Between 2022 and 2023, as part of Phase One of the Impact Centre development work, King’s established the case for the Impact Centre. This work was led by Professor Katherine Sleeman, and involved extensive engagement with patients, carers, health and care staff, charities and policy makers locally and nationally. 

The One King's Impact Fund is supporting Phase Two: Communications & Engagement. This phase will build on and accelerate progress of the Impact Centre development.

Over the next year, the aims of this phase of the project include:

• • Engaging primary users of the Impact Centre, including patients and health and care professionals, to understand their needs and priorities.
  • Raising awareness and building cross-sector support for the Impact Centre, to shape strategy and activities upon opening.
  • Engaging with policymakers and UK Government to lobby for improvements to palliative and end-of-life care provision across the UK.

The Impact Centre will launch at King’s by 2026. 

Partners and Collaborators

The key to this project's success is the network of multidisciplinary partners from across and beyond King's, working together to deliver the Impact Centre.

Co-Leads: 

• Professor Katherine Sleeman, Laing Galazka Chair in Palliative Care, Honorary Consultant in Palliative Medicine
• Kate Heaps, Clinical Lead for Palliative and End-of-Life Care for South East London Integrated Care System. 

Co-Investigators:

• Dr Lesley Williamson – NIHR ARC post-doctoral researcher 
• Dr Anna Bone – Lecturer in epidemiology at the Cicely Saunders Institute
• Professor Richard Harding – Director of the Cicely Saunders Institute, Professor in Palliative Care
• Professor Irene Higginson – Executive Dean of the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care. 
• Professor Bobby Duffy - Professor of Public Policy, Director of the Policy Institute
• Susannah Hume - Director of Evaluation at the Policy Institute.

Partners: 

• Cicely Saunders International
• King's Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine
• King's Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care
• King's Health Partners
• King's Policy Institute
• South East London Integrated Care System

This Phase will see engagement with a range of stakeholder groups including health and care professionals, local people and communities, and local MPs, policymakers and decision makers working in the sector.