St Barnabas has over 300 members of clinical and non-clinical staff working to support our vision – a world where dying with dignity, compassion and having choices is a fundamental part of a life.
The hard work and dedication of all our staff ensures we can continue providing vital end-of-life care, across Lincolnshire. This year we’re shining spotlights on our hidden teams and highlighting the incredible work they do to support St Barnabas.
The Education department work behind the scenes at St Barnabas, providing gold standard, evidence-based education in palliative, end-of-life and health care to benefit patients, individuals, organisations and communities.
Using their experience and expertise, they have developed education programmes tailored to provide personal learning and development for our staff and the wider healthcare system.
Rebekah Gore, Education and Projects Lead, and Sarah Christopher, Head of Education, at St Barnabas state:
“We carefully plan, design, and deliver both internal and external education programmes, ensuring they receive CPD accreditation prior to implementation.
We take pride in offering gold standard education that is evidence-based, current, and creatively designed to foster retention, understanding, and critical thinking.
Our courses consistently receive outstanding feedback, particularly for their interactive, innovative, and engaging delivery by our qualified educators.
In addition to supporting staff compliance with mandatory training, we offer a diverse range of clinical and non-clinical education sessions to enhance learning. Furthermore, we generate income for the hospice by selling our educational programmes externally, thereby enhancing the knowledge and skills of the broader workforce in improving palliative and end-of-life care for patients and their families.”
At St Barnabas, we also offer work experience opportunities for school children, taster and insight days for individuals, and practice placement opportunities for students across the medical and health professions.
These opportunities provide individuals with the chance to gain a specific insight into St Barnabas, how we function, and gain a deeper understanding of working in a Hospice.
Through collaborating with institutions such as Lincoln Medical School and the University of Nottingham, we provide practice placement opportunities for medical students – forming a vital part of their studies.
Julie Seddon, Practice Placement Lead at St Barnabas, says: “In 2019 I took on the role of Clinical Educator at St Barnabas Hospice, with responsibility for co-ordinating Medical Student placements. This has significantly evolved over the years, and in March 2024, I became the Practice Placement Lead for St Barnabas.
We offer and develop innovative, high-quality clinical and non-clinical practice placements, including supporting apprenticeships, work experience and insight days.
Working in collaborative partnership with external organisations, I enhance our overall placement offering for pre and post registration health and social care professionals, as well as other placements, ensuring the learning experience is excellent from start to finish.”
A total of 111 Medical Students joined us in 2024 for one-week placements offered at Lincoln, Boston and Grantham. A further 97 Medical Students are planned for attendance, commencing in March 2025.
Zainah, Medical Student, says: “One of the things I enjoyed most about working at St Barnabas is the community, and the supportive, uplifting environment – listening to patient’s concerns and empowering them. I noticed that’s quite a big difference compared to hospital care. I really enjoyed seeing the spirit that St Barnabas brings.”
Joe, Medical Student, adds: “The main thing I’ve learned is the importance of Advanced Care Planning, and how death is still a bit of a taboo in our society. People don’t like to use the d-word, but actually, having these conversations early with patients and their families about what is going on, what they can expect, and being quite realistic about the situation they might be in. Starting these conversations so patients and their families endure ‘a good death’.”
Paramedic Science Students are a new addition to the Practice Placement portfolio. 26 students joined us in January 2025 and it is anticipated this will be replicated in 2026.
Julie says: “Work experience opportunities provide school children with the opportunity to experience hands-on work experience across a range of departments, including Fundraising, HR, IMT and Retail.
I couldn’t do my role without the agreement and hard work of the St Barnabas teams that support me. This is a joint venture that we embark on. Over the last six years, services and teams have been outstanding in supporting and delivering experiences for students. It’s brilliant to see it all in action.”
Rebekah and Sarah add: “We enjoy working for an organisation that truly embodies its values, with a genuine people-centred culture that supports both staff and patients. We believe that through the support we receive to design and deliver effective education, we are making a real difference!”
Additionally, Jake Bontoft, Research Nurse, is working to embed research throughout the Trust, enabling us to ensure clinicians are working in an evidence-based way and that our practice is current and up to date – something that directly benefits our patients. It also allows us to contribute to best practice across the UK by undertaking projects in a range of different areas.
Working closely with Lisa Phillips, Director of People and Education, the team also support the delivery of our Organisational Strategy to benefit patients, families and communities across Lincolnshire.
To find out more about the courses we provide or placement opportunities, please visit: https://stbarnabashospice.co.uk/education/
Thank you to the Education team – your contributions make a huge impact, and we appreciate everything you do.