{
  "abstract": "Background ‘ Well I think it is really good as other people have similar thoughts, so you know you can talk to them and they can talk to you. I think it is amazing’. A 9-year-old bereaved child identifies the differentiator of hospice care.Death and dying of a loved one can make your world stand still, isolating and disconnecting you from your friends and family whose lives continue unhindered (Shucksmith, Carlebach, Whittaker. British Social Attitudes survey module on attitudes to end of life care and dying. Funded by Dying Matters. 2013; National Council for Palliative Care, National Bereavement Alliance and Dying Matters. Life after death: six steps to improve support in bereavement. NCPC; 2014). However, hospices are a glorious doorway to the solace found in meeting other people who understand something of your suffering. We think of advancing clinical ability and fail to consider the professional skill required to produce these rich encounters.Aim We employed a professional events team in an innovative move to test the value-add of bringing corporate skills into clinical care delivery. Fully embedded within care, the team were to create a comprehensive programme of events (group encounters), platforms for peer networks of support.Methods Audit data of attendance and event surveys were used to measure engagement, and quality improve the programme and delivery. Validated assessment tools were used to understand clinical need (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation Outcome Measure (CORE OM); Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); Impact of Events Scale – Revised (IES-R)). Imaginative child-friendly tools were incorporated to support contributions from all ages.Results Within three years, the number of events doubled. However, attendance increased from 422 to 2,675 per year, a remarkable 534% increase that demonstrates improvement beyond volume. Creativity, imagination and ingenuity led to five events a week, focused on wellbeing, interpersonal learning and universality, with a therapeutic value challenging what is achieved in individual psychological interventions (Yalom, Leszcz. The theory and practice of group psychotherapy. 6th ed. Basic Books; 2021). 96% rated the events as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.Conclusion Families supported by hospices require an expert network of support. Professionals form one part of this but fully enabling your population to support each other is often an untapped resource. The return on this investment is arguably impactful, an answer to meaningful care and sustainability.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, Hampton, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Lisa Dennis"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, Hampton, UK",
        "University of Southampton, Southampton, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Sarah Hodkinson"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, Hampton, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Caroline Brett-Field"
    }
  ],
  "title": "O-17 A game-changer: professional events management expertise transform care delivery in the psychosocial provision of groups and events",
  "uid": "a10246cd-2f8b-5cb0-9db1-8f1d212f7497"
}