A HOSPICE in the Forth Valley has received funding to deliver palliative care training to ambulance crews.

Strathcarron Hospice received the £9,276 grant from the Hospital Saturday Fund (HSF) to deliver the training programme to the Scottish Ambulance Service.

The Extension of Community Health Outcomes (ECHO) training programme will enable Scottish Ambulance Service practitioners to come together and establish a remote community of practice where expert knowledge and skills can be shared.

It will also create a space for support and critical reflection.

The ECHO training programme will be delivered by the hospice's education team, who specialise in end of life care training.

Paul Watson, Macmillan partnership programme lead end of life at the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: “Providing good quality palliative care to patients who need it, is a subject our colleagues in the ambulance service seek to learn.

“Strathcarron’s ECHO training and facilitation is first class.

“These sessions provide us the opportunity to gain and share expert knowledge to be more confident and have clinical expertise in palliative care.”

The hospice has already shared palliative care expertise with the ambulance service in April 2020 with the programme becoming even more essential during the pandemic.

Sally Boa, head of education at Strathcarron Hospice, said: “It’s wonderful news that this new grant from HSF enables the hospice to run a second programme to further share end of life and palliative care expertise with even more ambulance service practitioners across Scotland.”