What we do

Nursing Forum

Important Notice: Nursing Conference Postponed

The inaugural IAPC Nursing Conference, originally scheduled for 24th November 2026, has been postponed following careful consideration of the circumstances surrounding planned strike action and its impact on public sector colleagues. The event will now take place on 27th April 2027 at the Ashling Hotel, Dublin. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank delegates for their understanding and continued support. Further information regarding registrations, refunds and poster and abstract submissions is available below.

Revised Date: Tuesday 27th April 2027
Venue: Ashling Hotel, Dublin (D08 3P8)

Registration and Refunds

All existing registrations and tickets will automatically be carried over to the rescheduled event in April 2027, unless you advise us otherwise. We ask all registered delegates to please keep an eye on their emails in the New Year, when we will be in touch to confirm attendance.

If you have already registered and wish to request a refund, please contact info@iapc.ie.

Poster and Abstract Submissions

For those who have already submitted a poster or abstract for the Showcase of Practice, your submission will be retained on file for consideration for the rescheduled event on Tuesday 27th April 2027.

If you would prefer to withdraw your submission from consideration for the April event, please contact comms@iapc.ie.

As a representative body of the Nurse Membership of the IAPC, the Nursing Forum is charged with establishing aims and objectives of the group in line with those brought by the wider membership of nurses within the IAPC. This will be an ongoing and iterative process.

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Vision
To develop and promote palliative care nursing through education, advocacy, research leadership and peer support ensuring equitable patient centred care is at the forefront of service provision


Mission
The nursing forum aims to
– Deliver educational opportunities specific to the needs of our members
– Create a platform for sharing knowledge, best practices and passion for palliative care nursing
– Provide opportunities for representation on national and international committees to influence policy

Through engagement with the IAPC membership, it has become apparent that nurses within the IAPC wish to be connected through a formal network within the IAPC.Nurses make up the largest group of professionals within the IAPC comprising currently approximately 120 members. Historically and presently, there is no formal national network of nurses working in interdisciplinary palliative care that functions as a membership organisation. While nurses are linked in and are active in a variety of networks within the wider palliative care field in Ireland, there is an absence of a single voice for palliative care nurses like there is in many other specialities e.g., Gerontological Nurses, Respiratory Nurses, Urology Nurses etc. hence the IAPC Nursing Forum has been established to fill that void.

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Hike Group

In order for nurses to proactively contribute to the IAPC’s objectives, opportunities within this large and diverse subgroup of members must be created to enhance networking, share learning, provide opportunities for education, promote evidence-based research, produce publications, and generate a body of experts to represent palliative care nursing on national bodies and to influence the development of national policy. The IAPC Nursing Forum has become a major strand of the IAPC’s work agenda and through this will address key strategic aims of the organisation.

The establishment of the IAPC Nursing Forum aims to create an innovative and energetic space where IAPC nurses come together to network and identify and progress areas of communal interest with a future focus. Furthermore, the Forum has the potential to be the source of a strong nursing voice within the interdisciplinary palliative care field in the whole of Ireland and further afield.

Whilst the Nursing Forum steering group consists of 12-15 members, the Forum represents the voice of all nurse members of the IAPC.

Specifically, it will:

  • Establish working groups/subgroups within the various sub-specialities e.g. Intellectual Disability, Chronic Diseases or in line with career structures such as for instance an ANP or CNS Network.
  • Provide and deliver educational opportunities specific to Palliative Care Nursing; for instance webinars, attendance at national or international conferences etc.
  • Provide a platform for IAPC Nurse Members to present audits, research, service development initiatives in order to engage with Palliative Care colleagues.
  • Provide opportunities for Palliative Care Nurses to influence national policy and to contribute actively by being linked into stakeholder organisations within the field of Palliative Care.
  • Contribute to the development of an informal mentoring structure (with view to more formal structures) in order to engender passion for palliative care and support the next generations of nurses working in palliative care.
  • Develop links with 3rd level Institutions.
  • Develop means to promote Palliative Care Nursing and lobby for issues raised by Nurses.
  • Provide structures, means and technology to support subgroups within the forum.
  • Provide regular updates of organisational, national and international issues of interest to Nurse Members.

Forum members

Who are the Nursing Forum

Julie Goss

Chair

Advanced Nurse Practitioner

Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

Geraldine Purcell

Vice-Chair

Lecturer in Nursing

South East Technological University

Linda Rogers

Secretary

Advanced Nurse Practitioner Specialist

Naas General Hospital

Sharon McGuckin

Advanced Nurse Practitioner

Lasarina Maguire

Night Nurse

Irish Cancer Society

Rebecca Crothers

Lecturer

Ulster University

Paula Ward

Palliative Care Advanced
Nurse Practitioner

Midland Regional Hospital

Zara Fay

Clinical Nurse Specialist/Assistant Prof in Palliative Care

St. Francis Hospice, Dublin

USEFUL FORUM Documents

Download Nursing Forum
Governance Handbook

Interest form

Forum Membership
Interest Form Submission

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