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EAPC projects or Taskforces
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Task Force on
the role, tasks and competencies of palliative care social workers
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Download here the Task Force Proposal Form approved by the EAPC board of directors at the meeting hold on October 2-3, 2009.
The year 2009 has been a very important year for palliative care social work with a number of events and publications as follows:
On 23rd March Pam Firth was invited to a meeting in Amsterdam of palliative care social workers. There were a number of very interesting topics discussed including the position of palliative care social work as a specialism. This was followed by a meeting of social workers and family therapists at the European Congress of Palliative Care in Vienna in May. The session was led by David Oliviere, Director of Education at St Christophers Hospice UK and Pam Firth, Deputy Director of Hospice Services Isabel Hospice UK.
The meeting was attended by 37 social workers from all over Europe. There was general agreement that we should apply to the European Association of Palliative Care to support the setting up of a task force which would focus on the specialist role and functions of palliative care social work. The competencies and skills needed to be established and recommendations about training could also be addressed. We were aware at the meeting that our colleagues in Canada have been carrying out research into this area and were hoping to publish soon. With this in mind it was agreed that Pam Firth would request Task Force status when the board met in October. The group felt that we could have a small group who could work on some proposals and then the follow up work would be done by emails etc. The canadian social workers are now awaiting publication of their research in the journal Palliative Medicine.
Some social workers will also be aware that Malcom Payne, Policy Adviser at St Christophers Hospice UK has established a blog to provide a forum for social workers to share ideas, details on this website. Malcom has also just published a text book with Margaret Reith entitled Social work in End-of-life and palliative care.It is published by The Policy Press, University of Bristol,UK 2009.
Another important publication is the winter edition of Progress in Palliative Care which is going to be devoted to papers about end of life social work practice. It will be edited by Ruth Powaski, David Oliviere and Pam Firth.
In the UK this year there have been a number of child deaths by parents which have highlighted the whole issue of social workers role in Child Protection. The national press was very damning about the role of social worker. However in June this year the Guardian newspaper devoted part of its paper to examples of good social work practice and interviews with students and experienced practioners about their roles. Pam Firth gave her views about palliative care social work, its challenges and rewards.
It is good to meet and have contact with each other so please plan for the next European Congress in Lisbon 19th to 21st May 2011.
Pam Firth, board member of the European Association of Palliative Care
Social Workers Meeting at the 2005 Congress in Aachen
At every EAPC conference there is an opportunity to get together to share interests and concerns with colleagues from Europe. This year we met in Aachen and it was a chance to meet up with old friends and to meet new social workers. During the meeting several social workers expressed concern about the dwindling number of specialist social workers in some European countries. There was anxiety about what was seen as a diminution of the role . It was suggested that it would be useful to collate articles specifically about the role and tasks of palliative care social workers. I am happy to receive references and to then distribute them to colleagues. In the UK there is an organisation for palliative care social workers which has nearly 300 members and this was felt to be extremely supportive to social workers who are very often in single-handed posts, however this is the only national organisation of this type. Please contact me with articles/research about palliative care social work and if you are working in this field why not contribute to the European Journal Of Palliative Care or Palliative Medicine? The 2007 congress is in Budapest think about sending an abstract- celebrate our skills. In the mean-time email me with references at pam.firth@isabelhospice.org.uk
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