Event Details

We are delighted to present to you a brand new theme for the 2020/2021 Public Lectures Series: ‘Talking about…’, and warmly invite you to join our researchers as they explore some of the most pressing issues facing the country.

About the Lecture

During this lecture, Dr Rachel Marshall, Dr Rachel Tyrrell-Smith, Professor Catherine Walshe and Professor Nancy Preston focus on the impact of the pandemic on care and healthcare.

One of the less recognised impacts of the pandemic has been on the contribution that volunteers make. There are 1.5 volunteers to every paid member of staff across UK hospices, and so their contribution is central to the way that services operate.

In this first part of the lecture, Professor Catherine Walshe (Health Research, Lancaster University) draws on information from the multi-national ‘CovPall’ study to understand the impact of the pandemic on volunteering in palliative care, and how this can be addressed for the future.

If there is a point in the future when you can’t say what kind of care you want to receive, it can be helpful to share some thoughts about your preferences for treatment and care in advance. Often only people facing a life-threatening condition consider this, but during the pandemic, we all face these issues, whether ourselves or someone we care for.

In this second part, Professor Nancy Preston (Health Research, Lancaster University) introduces the concept of advance care planning, explores how it works, and discusses new research relating to advance care planning during the pandemic, conducted in care homes and palliative care units.

The number of people accessing support such as food banks and clubs has increased dramatically since the first lockdown. In addition, poor health linked to diet and nutrition has also emerged as risk factors leading to a more serious illness from the virus. Whilst the pandemic has amplified these trends, lack of access to enough, and the right kind of food, has been a fundamental problem with our current food system for many years.

In the last part of this lecture, Dr Rachel Marshall (Lancaster Environment Centre, FoodFutures, Lancaster University) and Dr Rachel Tyrrell-Smith (Lancaster City Council, FoodFutures and Lancaster District Food Poverty Alliance) discuss the links between food and health, and how our current economics and an industrial food system are driving negative public health trends.

The talks will be followed by a Q&A session during which you will have the opportunity to ask questions of the speakers via the Microsoft Teams chat function.

To register for your free tickets, please go to Eventbrite

About the speakers

Professor Nancy Preston (Health Research) specialises in research into palliative care, symptom control and how best to support patients. Professor Preston is involved with the local Specialist Palliative Care Network, which is a collaboration between clinicians and academics.

Professor Catherine Walshe (Health Research) researches palliative and end of life care provided not only to people experiencing life-limiting illness but also in informal and professional caring contexts to provide excellent and appropriate care.

Dr Rachel Marshall (Lancaster Environment Centre) works on food systems and how engagement at local and national levels can support the transition to more sustainable and resilient food systems. Dr Marshall is interested in how knowledge exchange between researchers and the wider community can deliver greater societal impact from research.

Dr Rachel Tyrrell-Smith is Public Health Project Coordinator at Lancaster City Council, working with local community stakeholders to tackle food poverty, social isolation and health inequalities.

© Photo by Damir Spanic