Advance Care Planning, Future Care Planning
29 Sep 2025, 12:30 - 14:00
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Advance Care Planning (ACP) is essential to living well, yet too often it’s left until it’s too late. This session brings together leading voices in palliative care to explore how we can shift from reactive to proactive care by embedding future care planning into everyday practice.
Through expert insights, practical frameworks, and evidence-based strategies, attendees will gain the confidence and tools to initiate meaningful conversations and support patients in planning ahead—regardless of where they are in their journey.
Session objectives
By the end of this session, participants will:
- understand the principles of advance care planning
- gain tools to adapt conversations to meet patients where they are in life
- build confidence in moving from discussion to action.
Agenda & speakers
Session 1: Planning Ahead as Part of Living Well
Speaker: Clare Fuller RGN MSc, Advance Care Planning Advocate, Educator and Coach
Clare will introduce a practical framework for planning ahead that can be applied across all UK nations. Drawing on her 30 years of experience in End-of-Life Care, Clare will share tools and strategies to help professionals initiate and sustain person-centred planning conversations.
Session 2: Future Care Planning – A Policy and Practice Perspective
Speaker: Prof. Mark Taubert, Consultant & Clinical Director, Velindre University NHS Trust
Mark will present findings from a scoping review of Future Care Planning (FCP) literature, highlighting its role in improving end-of-life care. He will discuss how FCP integrates advance care planning and best-interest approaches, and how consistent definitions can support professionals across health and social care.
Session 3: Integrating ACP into Palliative Nursing Practice
Speaker: Prof. Sonja McIlfatrick, Dean of Doctoral College, Ulster University
Sonja will explore the challenges and opportunities of embedding ACP into nursing practice. With a focus on education, leadership, and public health palliative care, she will share insights from her extensive academic and clinical career.
Session 4: Psychological Support in ACP Conversations
Speaker: Dr Anne Finucane, Senior Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh
Anne will present data on the psychological support needs of people with terminal illness and the role nurses play in addressing anxiety and distress. She will introduce Acceptance and Commitment Training as a model to support both patients and professionals in end-of-life care settings.
Speaker bios
Clare Fuller RGN MSc
Clare is a Registered Nurse and national advocate for Advance Care Planning. She has worked across hospices, community, and acute sectors, and served as a Consultant Nurse for the Gold Standards Framework. Clare is the founder of Speak for Me, a consultancy focused on improving End-of-Life Care through education and advocacy.
Prof. Mark Taubert
Mark is a hospital consultant and clinical director at Velindre University NHS Trust. He chairs the national Future Care Planning strategy group for NHS Wales and is the founder of TalkCPR.com. His work spans policy, public engagement, and academic research in palliative care.
Prof. Sonja McIlfatrick
Sonja is a leading academic in nursing and palliative care, currently serving as Dean of Doctoral College at Ulster University. She is Vice President of the European Association of Palliative Care and has received multiple fellowships and an MBE for her contributions to public health and education.
Dr Anne Finucane
Anne is a Senior Research Fellow in Clinical Psychology at the University of Edinburgh and Research Lead for Marie Curie Hospice Edinburgh. Her work focuses on mental wellbeing in advanced illness, and she co-leads the Mental Health in Advanced Illness Network (MAIN).
Megan King
megan.king@rcn.org.uk
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Page last updated - 16/09/2025
