Speaker biographies

Professor David Abbott

David Abbott is Professor of Social Policy at the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol. His work focuses on neglected topics, groups and intersecting identities, for example, the needs of disabled children in residential settings; the gendered/sexual social care support needs of disabled people; the emotional and social care needs of disabled men with life limiting conditions; the issues faced by LGBT people with learning disabilities and the views of staff in a range of social care settings; and the opportunities afforded by personalisation and self-directed social care support. He is an Associate Director of the NIHR School for Social Care Research.

Dr Pat Carragher

Dr Pat Carragher has been the Medical Director for Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) since 2006, but before this he was a Principal in General Practice for 19 years. His current post involves a mixture of “hands on” clinical care for babies, children and young people with life shortening conditions in Rachel House, Robin House and in various hospitals across Scotland, but also strategic work at local, national and across the UK, mixed with elements of research. In 2016 he took on the role as Chair of the Scottish Children’s and Young People’s Palliative Care Executive (SCYPPEx), which is refreshing a national children’s resuscitation policy (CYPADM) in Scotland and is working, as part of the National Implementation Advisory Group of the Strategic Framework for Action in Scotland, to contribute to the improvement of palliative care for all by 2021, but his involvement is more specifically for 0-25 year olds. Currently, he is chair of the Association of Paediatric Palliative Medicine (APPM) and is keen to encourage research from its members.

Fliss Murtagh

Fliss Murtagh qualified in medicine in the UK in 1986. She worked in General Practice for almost 10 years, and then undertook specialist training in palliative medicine. She is now a Professor of Palliative Care at Hull York Medical School, and Visiting Professor of Palliative Care at the Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London, UK. She is experienced in providing palliative care to a wide range of people with far advanced disease and their families, and has published extensively on palliative and end-of-life care needs. She is also experienced in research methods: cohort and cross sectional surveys, psychometrics, implementation and use of outcomes, especially the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale (see www.pos-pal.org).

Helen Weatherly

Helen Weatherly is a Senior Research Fellow and a member of the Team for Economic Evaluation and Health Technology Assessment at Centre for Health Economics (CHE), University of York, UK. She is also Co-Director of the Health Economics for Health Care Professionals Postgraduate Certificate and Diploma Programmes and the Programme Leader of the MSc in Economic Evaluation for Health Technology Assessment by Distance Learning http://www.york.ac.uk/res/herc/distance/. Helen is the lead economist on a range of applied and methodological health and social care projects and works in partnership with SPRU on a number of these projects.