Intermediate Communication Skills Training - Having Sensitive Conversations within the Context of Palliative and End of Life Care

Tuesday 14th April 2026 9:30 am - 4:00 pm

Wednesday 8th July 2026 9:30 am - 4:00 pm

Thursday 8th October 2026 9:30 am - 4:00 pm

Tuesday 12th January 2027 9:30 am - 4:00 pm

Online

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Who should attend:

Open to all health and social care staff who have sensitive and complex conversations and have already attended an introductory communication skills course.

If you are asking the following questions:

How do I respond to angry family members?
How do I tell someone they won’t manage at home or walk again?
What do I say to someone who asks “Am I dying?"

If so, this workshop is designed to help you identify some strategies and tools to manage these scenarios.

Course Aims:

To explore strategies for dealing with complex conversations so these can be applied to practice.

Objectives:

To identify what scenarios are difficult in practice
To review communication skills available in your toolkit
To state some strategies for handling different types of sensitive conversations
To reflect on some communication scenarios in practice (video/ case study/ goldfish bowl)

NOTE: HCT staff

HCT staff to book their place via ‘CPD Apply’ using this link Staff Hub

Presented by

Manisha Cook

Lecturer Practitioner and Specialist Physiotherapist

The Hospice of St Francis

Manisha is a qualified physiotherapist with over 20 years’ experience working in primary and secondary healthcare settings and has been working in palliative care since 2014.

Manisha completed her Level 4 Certificate in Teaching and Education in 2021 and currently practises as a Lecturer Practitioner at The Hospice of St Francis and within Universities.
Manisha is passionate about providing holistic, patient-centred care with a special interest in long term conditions and Pulmonary Fibrosis. She is equally committed to education and professional development, sharing her clinical expertise to support and inspire multidisciplinary teams, students, and colleagues working within palliative and end-of-life care.

Claire Nicell

Joint Head of Education and Learning

Claire is a Bachelor of Nursing with more than 30 years of clinical experience in many different settings. Throughout her career she has always had a keen interest in teaching and palliative care; so her present role as Lecturer Practitioner is her ideal job!

Her palliative care experience has involved working in hospitals, hospices and as a Community Specialist Palliative Care Nurse. More recently her focus and experience has switched to education. Within Hertfordshire she was part of the ABC project delivering palliative and end of life care to care homes throughout the county and then spent 18 months with the palliative care team at Watford General Hospital implementing The Rose Project (to promote dignity and respect at the end of life).

Claire loves working collaboratively with different colleagues across the social and health care sectors and helping individuals apply the principles of palliative care to their setting to promote excellent palliative care for those they care for.

She keeps her hand in clinically by working with her colleagues in the Community Palliative Care team and supporting a support group for patients with Pulmonary Fibrosis to ensure she practices what she teaches!