The national Palliative and End Of Life Care (PEOLC) Forum run by ARC East of England researchers brings people across England together to share knowledge and shape collaborative research to improve care. Find out more in this blog with PEOLC Theme Leads Professor Morag Farquhar and Dr Ben Bowers.
We set up the Forum as a space to bring together palliative care researchers, patient and carer representatives, members of the public, and health and care professionals from across England. Our mission is to drive collaborative work across NIHR ARCs to improve palliative care services and support, maximise efficiency and impact for patients, the public, and health systems. The Forum also fosters partnerships with other NIHR partners and external stakeholders, including Health Innovation Networks, local authorities, charities, industry, and national health and care partners.
The Forum has been set up to share knowledge and generate, implement and promote collaborative research that improves palliative and end-of-life care. Our collective work informs national priorities, builds research capacity, and addresses inequalities in access, experiences and outcomes.
Dr Ben Bowers
Palliative and End-of-Life Care Co-Theme Lead
We respond to requests from the Department of Health and Social Care and NIHR for expert advice, ensuring that ARC expertise informs national priorities and decision-making.
Through the national forum, we identify opportunities for national practice impact, enhance research dissemination and knowledge translation, catalyse large-scale implementation, and address national questions that require collaborative action across ARCs.
Through our national forum webinar series, we cover a broad range of topical palliative and end of life care issues. These quarterly events are designed to support everyone working in palliative and end of life care, to make an impact on clinical care by sharing best practice and the latest evidence. We also provide a platform for early career researchers from across England to share their work and gain valuable experience.
ARC East of England and the Palliative and End of Life Care Theme host and lead our national Forum work, organising and advertising events and promoting across the regional network. This expert input and help is invaluable. The national webinars are always well attended with typically around 100 to 350 people registering. Between October 2024 and March 2026 we have delivered five national webinars with over 100 people attending, and over 200 signed up to our next one already.
For ARC2, we have partnered with the NIHR Palliative Care Incubator to continue our National Palliative and End‑of-Life Care webinar series. These webinars are held four times a year and bring together health and social care professionals, researchers and members of the public to share current and emerging work in palliative and end of life care. Our webinars and events are shaped by what past webinar attendees and NIHR Palliative Care Incubator early and mid-career members request and would value most.
We are currently alternating webinars between ‘spotlights’ on the innovative work and methods of research centres to stimulate collaborations and topic specific webinars, such as our upcoming session on Symptom management in palliative and end of life care.
The forum webinars are very inclusive and we welcome people from lots of different backgrounds attending from across the UK and beyond. We shape our events to promote inclusion in research and better meet the needs of under-served communities.
Professor Morag Farquhar
Palliative and End-of-Life Care Theme Lead
We are actively reaching out to community nurses, care home workers and social care providers to ensure events are tailored to their needs, and that they are aware of upcoming sessions that will be of interest. Our upcoming webinar on symptom management includes research done in partnership with care home staff investigating how to improve access to controlled medication in end of life care.
- Register to join the next webinar on Tuesday 22 September here:
NIHR Palliative and End of Life Care National Forum webinar: Symptom management in palliative and end of life care | ARC East of England - Past webinars are all available to watch on demand here:
National Palliative and End-of-Life Care Forum | ARC East of England
