Developing Person-centred Care in Hospices through the Voice and Leadership of Nursing: Lessons from the United Kingdom

Erna Haraldsdottir^1*Marie Cooper²Heather Richardson²

• ¹Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh, United Kingdom
• ²St Christophers Hospice, London, United Kingdom

Introduction: Nursing leadership and the voice of nurses are crucial for developing person-centred care in hospices. Concerns have been raised that, as palliative care has evolved from its original vision and become more integrated into the mainstream healthcare system, it has increasingly become medicalised. This paper presents an emancipatory practice development programme aimed at enhancing the visibility and voice of nursing and nurse leadership to improve person-centred care in hospices across the UK. Methods: The project was a ten-month collaborative education programme for nursing practice leaders in hospices throughout the UK, running from September 2023 to July 2024. A total of 24 clinical and practice development leaders from eight different hospices participated. The Kirkpatrick model for evaluating learning programmes was adapted to create a framework for assessing the programme's impact. The evaluation process utilised Collaborative Critical Creative Inquiry. Results: Key findings from the evaluation indicate that the programme created conditions for participants to gain transformative insights and understanding that positively impacted their practice through emancipatory practice development. Discussion: The programme enabled leaders of person-centred care in hospices to rekindle their vision for palliative care practice. Participants became more aware of how care was constructed within their organisations and recognised the assumptions that were often taken for granted—assumptions which influenced daily care practices that sometimes leaned towards a traditional medical model. They acquired new skills and knowledge that empowered them to engage more intentionally in making changes to enhance person-centred care. This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article Conclusion and implications for practice: Humanising healthcare is a global agenda, and within hospice care, nurses are at the heart of transforming care to be more person-centred. They are well positioned to reclaim the core principles of palliative care, as developed by Cicely Saunders, and push back against the medical model that has overshadowed the development and integration of palliative care into current healthcare systems. Nurses are expert practitioners and leaders. Yet, for many, their change-making potential is not realised. Innovative learning programmes are an essential part of humanising healthcare, and can unlock nurses' potential to lead this transformation.