A NEW course developed by hospice staff on how to provide excellent end of life care will be delivered to all qualified district nurses across the borough.

They will attend 12 all-day training sessions at Wigan and Leigh Hospice in Hindley.

The symptom management and communication training sessions started on Monday and will be delivered over six months, ending on February 16.

The sessions have been developed by Sarah Owens, palliative care education lead at the hospice.

She will deliver the training alongside the hospice nurse specialist (HNS) team, whose role is to share their specialist knowledge with their NHS colleagues as well as to provide direct support for patients and their loved ones.

Sarah said: “The hospice has worked with district nurses to provide training in various aspects of palliative and end of life care for many years.

“But this is the first time we have delivered such a comprehensive training programme in palliative and end of life care to all of the district nurses in the Wigan borough.

“Caring for people who are at the end of their lives is an essential part of what a district nurse does and this is about enhancing what they already know and do.

“We want to support the district nurses in our borough to extend their knowledge, skills and confidence in palliative and end of life care.”

The hospice runs training and education programmes for health and social care professionals so that people who are not directly cared for by the hospice can still benefit from its expertise.

The programme for district nurses is funded via multi professional education and training funds from Health Education England North West.