Organisations with access to our Data and Improvement Tool (DIT)

Please find the below document which, as of 14th July 2025, outlines which organisations have access to our Data and Improvement Tool. If you want to access our tool, you an register here: https://data.nacel.nhs.uk/register/

International Collaborative for best care for the dying person Summer School 2025 (12th & 13th May) - Dr Rosie Bronnert & Dr Mary Miller

This was the second year that some of the NACEL team attended the summer school.  Lovely to meet new and long-term colleagues. Interestingly, we learnt as much as we did in 2024.

The international collaborative was hosted by Cudeca Hospice (Malaga, Spain) in their state-of-the-art educational centre. Dr Marisa Martín Roselló and team were superb hosts, supporting learning, discussion and collaboration in the warm sunshine.

View from Cudeca toward the sea.

The international collaborative brings together a global group of leading thinkers, practitioners and researchers, who share a vision for a world where all people experience a good death as an integral part of their individual life, supported by the very best personalised care.     

Day 1:

Dr Marisa Martín Roselló and Mr Yusuf Hamied welcomed the group to the summer school 2025x. Professor John Ellershaw outlined the programme for the school and outlined the work of the international collaborative. From there we went straight to workshops, Mary to learn more about the 10/40 model and Rosie learn more about the Living well, dying well research project. Mary will follow up with the team in Liverpool to understand the benefits of undertaking a 10/40 model as well as the national audit.

Rosie presented an update on the work NACEL did since the last summer school. The workshop attracted a large group of people wanting to learn about one of the two global national benchmarking audits seeking to understand the care of the dying.  

After lunch, Mary gave an oral presentation, one of 8. Mary presented work from NACEL data (Miller M. Family voices from the bedside: National Audit of Care at the End of Life (England and Wales) BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care 2025;15:266-269).    

In the final workshop of the day, Mary and Dr Maria Schelin (Swedish Register for Palliative Care - SRPC) presented the work that both teams will publish to describe NACEL and SRPC. This paper will outline the common areas of the two global national level retrospective investigations into care of the dying person, the relative advantages and disadvantages and aspirations for the future.    

The day concluded with a plenary session discussing education and training in palliative care.

Day 2:

Dr Marisa Martín Roselló welcomed the delegates. Professor van der Heide presented a snapshot of four papers from the EU Horizon 2020 iLIVE project that will publish imminently. Exciting findings on patient decision making, acceptance of dying, where people want to die and the importance of family. We moved on to the invited oral presentations.

We both attended a fantastic hybrid webinar focusing on Dr Mayland’s NIHR funded research work seeking to understand how to engage family feedback where the patient has died outside the hospital, particularly from those whose voices may not usually be sought or heard. Many ideas to discuss and consider for NACEL.  

Following the final plenary, we moved to the final workshop and planning for projects during the coming 12 months. Looking forward to an exciting year. The school drew to a close with reflections and learning led by Professor John Ellershaw.

The summer school was a fabulous networking and learning experience once again.      

Dr Mary Miller

Rosie and Mary

Participation Update

Thank you for your contribution to NACEL 2025 so far.

We are now 7 months into the data collection period, so this is a reminder to continue sharing all your Case Note Review data. Here is a link to the Case Note Review data collection pages.

Please also continue to gather feedback from the bereaved by sharing the NACEL Bereavement Survey. Here’s a reminder of tips & tricks that have worked well for some Trusts.

A note on tissue donation from NHS Blood and Transplant

NHS Blood and Transplant uses academic research to transform eye donation practices in Palliative and End-of-Life care settings

The innovation, supported by Hospice UK, has seen the latest research underpin a cultural shift within Hospice in-patient units, and has led to the development of a national learning package with additional, targeted resources to give patients the opportunity to explore their wishes for eye donation. Read more about this scheme & access the e-learning resource by following the button below:

The research, funded by the National Institute of Health Research, can be accessed by clicking the button below:

Listen to Dr Katy Bruce, Consultant in Palliative Medicine at the Hospice of St Francis who were involved in the pilot phase, as she talks about her experience talking to patients about their wishes: