Future transitions in palliative care: care across the life course for people with life-limiting conditions

Funded by the Scottish Universities Insight Institute (SUII), Future Transitions in Palliative Care: Care Across the Life Course for People with Life Limiting Conditions programme explored the future of palliative care for people living with life limiting conditions to build a contextual understanding of care needs and aspirations across the life course and scope future care models that support the development of person-centred care towards Scotland 2030. There is a need to focus on positive and preferable destinations of care where the ethos and values of services provide a seamless transition for people living with life limiting conditions, regardless of life stage. Transitions of care are not simply focused on the person receiving care but also the wider care circles, such as family, friends, volunteers, practitioners delivering care, as well as policy and decision makers who impact the care experience. As such, the programme built upon the existing active network of cross sector organisations, practitioners, families and people with lived experience of services together, ensuring all voices are heard. The programme is a multi-institutional collaboration led by The Glasgow School of Art and the University of Dundee. The programme provides a way to build the foundations for innovation in palliative care pathways for people living with life limiting conditions at the ‘front line’ at points of transition to set the direction towards 2030. Our approach is underpinned by the need to develop innovations based on the ‘right’ conditions and principles by placing interactions between people and their care circle at the core of care delivery to enable conversations that are centered around aspirations for care and thus contribute to seamless transitions for people of all ages.