Declining health, death, dying and bereavement are profound and universal human experiences. Though we have become very good at prolonging life, we still cannot prevent death.

However, there are many ways we can improve people’s experiences of death, dying and bereavement.

Improving people’s experiences requires us not just to act within the health and social care system, but also to change the social context within which the health and social care system is operating.

The session will illustrate four specific examples using a range of diverse approaches to engage people and achieve change in very different settings:

• Undertaking quality improvement on shared decision-making in acute medical units.
• Using technology and peer learning to remotely support end of life care in care homes.
• Using the arts to build resilience around bereavement in communities.
• Enabling communities and individuals to better support each other through difficult times.

Delegates will:

• Hear about innovative, low cost and practical approaches to effecting change.
• Have an opportunity to reflect on declining health, dying and bereavement in their own workplace and personal communities.
• Be challenged to think about their own role in improving declining health, dying and bereavement.

This session will be led by the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care (SPPC). SPPC is a charity that brings together health and social care professionals from hospitals, social care services, primary care, hospices and other charities, to find ways of improving people’s experiences of declining health, death, dying and bereavement.  SPPC also works to enable communities and individuals to support each other through the hard times which can come with death, dying and bereavement.