General Medicine for palliative care physicians.
Worried that your medical knowledge is not at the cutting edge, that you haven't heard about the latest major advance, or that your patients are missing out? Then, this is the course for you! This course has run successfully since 2002.
OxCERPC recognises the need for doctors working in palliative medicine to stay abreast of changes in medical practice. Each year we develop a bespoke programme for the year. Speakers are invited from other specialties in medicine, bringing their expertise to update our medical knowledge and enhance our practice of palliative medicine. This course complements the Oxford Advanced Pain and Symptom Management course.
Join the course live to avail of opportunities to ask questions and participate in discussion. Alternatively, watch the recordings at a time that suits you! Recordings will be made available to all delegates, affording an opportunity to pause, reflect, look up the reference or watch a section of the teaching again.
EARLY BIRD PRICE! 10% OFF until 18th December 2025
2026 programme LINK
Feedback from 2025; Thank you!
I loved having 15 mins break between sessions - chance to consolidate your learning.
It was excellent … there is such variety among the speakers.
Good spread of lectures and breaks.
Excellent topics and speakers. Content was very good.
A range of speakers from other specialities.
I really liked the timing structure - shorter breaks and the earlier finish are really useful. Thank you.
Great day and well chaired.
This was a brilliant day.
Really enjoyed the study day. Thank you.
Location: Virtual - Zoom
CPD Credits: 8 CPD credits expected
+ Venue
Virtual Zoom course
+ Speakers
2026 Chairs:
Dr Victoria Hedges and Dr Mary Miller
Agreed speakers:
Dr Peter Saunders, consultant respiratory medicine, Oxford. 'Interstitial lung disease and advances in care'
Peter graduated from Imperial College, London in 2006. He completed his Respiratory training in the North West Thames region in 2019. During his training he spent four years at the Royal Brompton ILD Unit as a clinical research fellow and was awarded a PhD from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial for his research into cough in fibrotic lung diseases. He has worked in Oxford since 2020 as a Consultant in Interstitial Lung Disease and Principle investigator on multiple trials looking for new treatments for pulmonary fibrosis.
Professor Derek Willis, consultant palliative medicine, Shrewsbury. Neuromuscular disorder.
Derek Willis is Medical Director at Severn Hospice (Shropshire and Midwales) and an Honorary Chair at the University of Chester in Bioethics and Palliative Medicine. At present he is working in partnership with Robert Jones Agnes Hunt Hospital and Muscular Dystrophy UK to explore what palliative medicine provision should be for adult patients with Muscular Dystrophies? He has been part of a governmental review at the House of Lords concerning this.
Derek is both GP and Physician trained and has worked in New Zealand, the Midlands and the North East. He teaches Medical Ethics at three Universities and has a higher qualification as well as a research interest in the subject. He is academic rep on the WMCares research collaborative. He is currently Treasurer of the APM and is on their Ethics Committee.
Dr Rebecca Frake –Registrar in Neurology & General Internal Medicine
Dr Rebecca Frake completed her PhD in 2017 through the University of Cambridge MB/PhD Programme. Her PhD was supervised by Professor David Rubinsztein at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. Her doctoral thesis characterises the adaptor protein vinexin (encoded by SORBS3), which shows increased expression in brain ageing across species, as an autophagy regulator.
She graduated with her medical degree in 2019 and moved to Edinburgh to undertake academic foundation training. This included clinical work in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and postdoctoral research in the Smillie Lab at the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, focusing on presynaptic dysfunction in Huntington's disease.
In 2021, Dr Frake moved to Oxford to undertake internal medicine training within Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. In 2024, she successfully applied for an NIHR Clinical Lecturer position, together with a national training number in neurology and general internal medicine.
Dr Christine Swann, lead medical examiner, Oxford.
We look forward to completing the programme shortly.
+ Course Programmes
The 2026 programme is currently in development. The below programme is from 2025 as an example.
Day 1
09:20 Welcome and Introduction
09:30 Gastroparesis and medical management (Dr Dympna Waldron)
10:30 Break
10:45 Antibiotic Update (Dr Jame McCrae)
11:45 Break
12:30 Magnesium Disorders (Dr Rhian Touyz)
13:30 Break
13:45 Neuropalliation (Dr Louise Wiblin)
14:45 Wrap up (Dr Victoria Hedges)
15:00 End of day 1
Day 2
09:20 Welcome and Introduction
09:30 Psychiatry Update (Prof Liz Sampson)
10:30 Break
10:45 Heart Failure in 2025: Treatment and Prognosis (Dr James Gamble)
11:45 Break
12.00 Update in COPD management (Dr Rob Halifax)
13:00 Break
13:45 Ophthalmology Update (Dr Stella Hornby)
14:45 Wrap up (Dr Victoria Hedges)
15:00 End of Day 2
+ Course Aims
The course aims to refresh and build your knowledge and skills in medicine to enable you to transfer knowledge back to your clinical care in palliative medicine.
Objectives
By attending this course you will:
• Have an opportunity to enjoy learning with your colleagues
• Develop knowledge and skills to support your clinical judgments and enable discussions with your patients and those they love
• Have an opportunity to discuss with experts and your colleagues so that you can apply specialty knowledge to palliative medicine
• Be supported to bring your learning back to your organisation
• Have an opportunity to network with your peers
Key benefits include:
• A high standard of professional knowledge
• Excellent teaching
• Time for questions, discussion and building your networks
• Support to set educational goals for the coming year
• Superb value for money
• Experienced and enthusiastic administrative staff
• Focus on participants, not for profit so keeping costs as low as possible – any surplus ploughed back into education
