Palliative Care

The Consortium recognizes the need for a comprehensive palliative care initiative and is involved in many activities to improve palliative care on the island of Ireland.

The goal of palliative care is to prevent and relieve suffering, and improve the quality of life for people facing life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer. Palliative care – treatment given to relieve symptoms caused by advanced disease – does not alter the course of disease, but can improve quality of life by treating pain and other disease-related problems, which may be physical and/or psychosocial.

Recently, a growing number of professionals and volunteers has been working to improve palliative care on the island of Ireland. A palliative care liaison has been selected to bring palliative care issues, programs, and ideas to the All-Ireland NCI Cancer Consortium. Professor Judith Hill, Chief Executive Officer, Northern Ireland Hospice Care, serves as the palliative care liaison and spokesperson for this initiative in the Strategic Advisory Group.

All-Ireland Institute for Hospice and Palliative Care

Professor David Clark is the current Visiting Professor of Hospice Studies at University Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. Since his appointment, Professor Clark has been instrumental in facilitating discussion related to the need for supportive, palliative, and end-of-life care on the island of Ireland. These discussions brought about a proposal for an All-Ireland Institute for Hospice and Palliative Care: Outline Proposal (May 2007). The Institute will provide education and training, research, and resources to service providers and policymakers. In the proposal, the group expresses the vision as "to improve the experience of supportive, palliative, and end-of-life care on the island of Ireland, by enhancing the capacity to: develop knowledge, promote learning, influence policy, and shape practice."

The Steering Group met in December of 2007 to begin a draft business plan for the Institute (All-Ireland Institute for Hospice and Palliative Care: Communiqué (December 2007)), which includes the vision and objectives as well as potential activities of the Institute. The draft business plan was completed in January 2008 and subsequently distributed for comment to a wide range of stakeholders. Appropriate comments/suggestions are incorporated into the final version, which was approved by the Co-Chairs, on behalf of the Steering Group, and is being used in the process of seeking funding.

The Steering Group recently released the All-Ireland Institute for Hospice and Palliative Care: Update 4 (April 2008), which outlines the recent progress and planned steps towards the formal establishment of the Institute.

Nursing Working Group

The Board of Directors established the Nursing Working Group (NRS WG) to address the shortage of oncology-trained nurses on the Ireland. The NRS WG focuses on expanding educational opportunities for Irish and Northern Irish nurses and promoting nursing and palliative care activities within the Consortium www.allirelandnci.org/programs/nursing.shtml

To learn more about the Consortium's palliative care activities, contact our Help Desk.