Barbara Monroe

This talk will explore the issues involved in integrating the planning and delivery of all elements of service provision across all settings so that appropriate end of life care is available to everyone. It will challenge hospices to consider whether they are sharing and furthering the founding vision for palliative care or jealously guarding an historical relic inadequate to meet current and future demands. Suggestions will be offered about the nature of organisational leadership that will be needed and mechanisms for building partnerships with different communities.

Resilience and end of life care
Thursday 30 October, 4.10pm

There is considerable attention on the concept of resilience as we seek to explain the variations and complexities of human response to difficult circumstances. Recent studies suggest that many more individuals than initially supposed can continue to thrive despite adverse experiences and compounding risk factors. This talk will explore clinical approaches likely to promote resilience in patients and those close to them. Promotion of individual psychological wellbeing must be linked to positive community and cultural resources. Effective investment in community and public health approaches will be required. Factors contributing to the development of resilient organisations will also be examined.

Background bio;
Barbara has been a social worker for more than 30 years. She joined St Christopher’s Hospice in London in 1987 and became chief executive in 2000.

She is also director of the Candle children’s bereavement project and chair of the national Childhood Bereavement Network. She is a member of the International Work Group on Death and Dying, is on the advisory committee of the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund African Palliative Care initiative and is a member of the Commission on the Future of Volunteering.

Barbara also sits on a variety of national and government committees related to end-of-life care. She is a well-known lecturer and trainer and has written extensively about the psychosocial aspects of palliative care.