Pendleside Hospice and UCLan team up for official working partnership

While the two institutions have been working together informally for some years – providing student nurse placements – the emergence of UCLan’s Burnley Campus as a major base for training future nurses and doctors has further strengthened the relationship and a Memorandum of Understanding between Pendleside and UCLan has now been signed.

The Reedley-based hospice is providing placements for UCLan’s Year 1 and Year 4 medicine students while Pendleside’s staff have also benefitted from UCLan courses including leadership development, palliative and end-of-life care and mentorship training.

Dr Ebrahim Adia, pro vice-chancellor (Business Development and Partnerships), said: “We are delighted to form a strategic partnership with Pendleside Hospice and to support the hospice on its mission to deliver essential care to patients and support to their families in the Burnley and Pendle area.

“The hospice already supports UCLan students with vital placements and work experience. This new strategic partnership will enable UCLan to support the training of hospice staff, and to seek joint funding and research opportunities with a view to developing innovative healthcare solutions for the benefit of local residents in East Lancashire.”

Helen McVey, chief executive of Pendleside, said: “We had a very positive initial meeting with UCLan to discuss how our partnership will work. We had a look around the fantastic facilities at the new Burnley Campus, which were very inspiring. It was good to see where our future hospice doctors and nurses will train.

“We already have great links with the university and have worked well together informally over a few years. It now feels a natural progression to work together in a partnership even more for the mutual benefit not only from a clinical and also a business perspective.”

The first new venture between Pendleside and UCLan will be the apprenticeship training of an assistant practitioner in the hospice’s Day Services and Outpatient Services. This new role will allow the hospice to enhance the rehabilitation service it offers to patients.