Programme

We are pleased to be able to release the conference programme.

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Tuesday 29 June
 Time Session
 09:30 Opening 
 09:50

Where were we and where are we now?
Professor Miriam Johnson, Professor of Palliative Medicine, Director of the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre, University of Hull

The palliative care needs of people with advanced heart failure are well documented. The evidence base to support access to palliative care alongside heart failure management is growing. This session will review what we know of the issues, the evidence base, and the challenges of implementing palliative care in practice.  A “top down, bottom up” approach will be taken to look at current challenges and potential solutions.

 10:20

Research priorities for advanced heart failure: results of a priority setting partnership
Rachel Johnson, University of Bristol

Heart failure affects 1-2% of adults in the UK, and in its advanced stages causes a high symptom burden and has high mortality.  Research in advanced heart failure has focused on younger, often male patients, while most people with advanced heart failure are community-dwelling older people with multiple comorbidities who are underrepresented in research studies. We set out to understand the priorities for research for advanced heart failure, from the perspectives of people with heart failure and their health and care professionals.  In this session, Dr Johnson will discuss the results of this process.

 10:50 Break
 11:00

Heart Failure in people with a history of migration: The Impact of NHS Charging Regulations on access to healthcare   
Dr Elizabeth Bates, West Midlands Clinical Lead, Doctors of the World, UK

The UK is increasingly diverse and many members of our communities have complex and evolving immigration statuses. Since 2017 enforcement of NHS Charging regulations, together with other guidelines have been impacting on universal healthcare access in UK. Individual patients may face barriers accessing Primary, Community and Secondary care, including having differing rights to prioritisation on transplant waiting lists. This can have a profound impact on patients and their outcomes, especially at end of life. Using a recent local case study we will explore how this may affect your patients, empowering you to enable them to access healthcare.

 11:30

Ethical Decision making
Dr James Beattie, Consultant Cardiologist, Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College, London, UK

Despite developments in the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure in recent years, this remains a life limiting condition.  This session will explore the clinical and ethical dilemmas, often related to the complexity of contemporary therapy, increasingly encountered when caring for heart failure patients close to the end of life.

 12:00 Lunch and Networking
 13:00 Workshops
 

Workshop Stream A:
Heart failure needs assessment - evidence and practice 
Dr Amy Gadoud, Senior Lecturer in Palliative Medicine, Lancaster University and Bader Remawi, PhD Student in Medicine Lancaster University and Professor Miriam Johnson, University of Hull

Patients with heart failure have significant palliative care needs but few are provided palliative care. Given the unpredictable trajectory of heart failure, the needs-based approach to identify palliative patients is more appropriate than the prognostic approach. This session will outline results of a recent systematic review detailing palliative care needs-assessment and measurement tools used in patients with heart failure. Key tools will be highlighted such as NAT:PD-HF and IPOS. The participants will have the opportunity to work through examples of using the tools in clinical practice and wider issues such as communication and education will be discussed.

Workshop Stream B:

Oedema management – drug and non-pharm
Dr Purushottam Desai, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham and Helen Kelly, Heart Failure Nurse Specialist, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham 

Interactive talk on management of this common symptom of Heart Failure and approach towards resistant oedema.

Workshop Stream C:

Integration that works
Dr Sharon Chadwick, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Medical Director and Deputy CEO, Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted

In this session, the experience of integrating palliative care so that it becomes part of the language of managing heart failure is shared. The quick wins and potential pitfalls will be shared.

 14:00 Break 
 14:15 Workshops
 

Workshop Stream A:
Breath-Body-Mind integration (BBMi): a holistic approach to living and working with breathlessness
Kate Binnie, PhD Student; Music, Yoga, Mindfulness therapist MSc palliative care

A holistic approach to living and working with breathlessness: BBMi is a holistic, non-pharmacological approach to supporting people with chronic breathlessness developed in clinical practice with patients and caregivers receiving supportive and palliative care, and delivered as a practical training to healthcare professionals at www.sobelleducation.org.uk.

In this workshop, I’ll explain the theoretical underpinnings of BBMi which address the complex and poorly understood relationship between breathlessness and anxiety, and describe how I’ve used these skills with patients and as a caregiver (my Mum died at home with heart failure in 2019).  I’ll also lead an experiential practice offering tips and tools for take-home use, with time for discussion & questions at the end. 

Workshop Stream B:
Conversations about what matters
Molly Bird, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice

Patients with heart failure often have an undulating disease trajectory with multiple deteriorations in their condition or exacerbation of symptoms before death.  This sessions will discuss the importance of planning for the future with this patient group.  There will be opportunity for interaction and discussion.  

Workshop Stream C:
Where to start? Choosing the optimum MDT model for seamless care

Laura Browne, Heart Failure Specialist Nurse and Dr Anna Lock, Consultant Palliative Medicine, Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust

This session will describe the model of multidisciplinary team working adopted in our locality including drivers, membership, leadership, and identification of patients. It will also explore the opportunities and the pitfalls encountered, and provide early data describing activity. 

 

15:15 Break  
15:20

Heart Failure and Palliative Care: Challenges and Opportunities
Dr Haider J Warraich, Associate Director, Heart Failure Program, VA Boston, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

15:50 Closing remarks  
16:00 Posters and Networking