This pre-conference frames palliative care as a core public health priority and explores how public health approaches can help ensure care, support and dignity for people facing serious illness, dying, caregiving and bereavement.

Structured around assessing population needs, ensuring equitable access and strengthening supportive social and community environments, the session will discuss current evidence, policy challenges and practical strategies to advance palliative and end-of-life care across Europe.

Building on expert contributions, case-based discussion and interactive exchange, the pre-conference will examine how palliative care can move beyond a specialist clinical service and be recognised as a public health concern linked to quality, equity, social participation and dignity. It will bring together perspectives from public health, palliative care, health services research, chronic disease management, policy and community-based practice.

The discussion will address three interconnected areas:

• population-level evidence on palliative care needs, gaps in provision, and approaches to measuring and monitoring quality of care;
• integration of palliative care into oncological and non-oncological chronic disease pathways, including heart failure;
• community-based responses to serious illness, dying, caregiving and bereavement, including compassionate communities.

Preliminary programme

13:30 – Welcome and pre-conference objectives

Lorena Dini, President, EUPHA Health Services Research Section; Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Filippo Quattrone, Vice-President, EUPHA Health Services Research Section; Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa

13:35 – Why Palliative Care Is a Public Health Priority: Population Needs, Equity and Health-System Responses

Joachim Cohen, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, End-of-Life Care Research Group

13:50 – Palliative Care Metrics: Epidemiology, Equity and Quality in the European Context

Arianna Bellini, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa

14:05 – The Economic Case for Palliative Care: Outcomes, Resource Use, Economic Evaluation and Value for Health Systems

Lucia Della Ratta, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa

14:20 – Integrating Palliative Care into Primary Care: The German Perspective

Ana Ordonez Cruickshank, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

14:35 – Heart Failure and Palliative Care

RAPHAEL project representative – speaker to be confirmed

14:50 – Compassionate Communities: Towards a Global Map of Community-Based Palliative Care

Libby Sallnow, Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department, University College London

15:05 – End-of-Life Care and the Social Contract: Policy and Health-System Implications for Europe

Dheepa Rajan, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, WHO European Centre for Health Policy

15:20 – Coffee break

15:40 – Introduction to the structured priority-setting exercise

Arianna Bellini, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies

Ana Ordonez Cruickshank, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Lucia Della Ratta, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies

Brief presentation of the working method, guiding dimensions and expected outputs.

15:45 – Parallel working groups

Participants will work in mixed groups to develop one priority action for advancing public health palliative care in Europe.

Discussion will consider population needs and data gaps; integration across services and care pathways; equity and underserved populations; compassionate communities; economic evaluation; implementation; and policy.

Each group will develop a priority action addressing:

1. the main gap or unresolved challenge;

2. the populations, services or health-system outcomes affected;

3. the evidence, data, policy or implementation action required;

4. the added value of European collaboration;

5. a concrete next step for the following 12–24 months.

Each group will appoint a rapporteur and prepare a three-minute presentation.

16:15 – Presentation and discussion of group priorities

Groups will present their proposed priority actions. The plenary will compare and cluster the proposals, identifying common themes and potential areas of convergence.

16:40 – Collaborative Prioritisation of Research and Policy Actions

Chair: Tit Albreht, EUPHA President, National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia

Moderation: Lorena Dini and Filippo Quattrone

Discussants: Joachim Cohen, Libby Sallnow, Dheepa Rajan and RAPHAEL project representative

Participants will collectively assess the proposed priorities according to potential public health impact, feasibility and European added value. The session will conclude by identifying a limited number of shared priorities and possible next steps for European collaboration.

16:55 – Closing remarks and next steps

Tit Albreht, Lorena Dini and Filippo Quattrone

17:00 – End of the pre-conference