My experience of a Churchill Fellowship

Sophie Whitehead shares her experience of being awarded a Churchill Fellowship and travelling to the USA and Europe to complete her project looking at how people with communication difficulties are supported in advance care planning.

The Churchill Fellowship is an international travel fellowship grant, open to all UK citizens over the age of 18. They have different themes, and you apply with a research idea of something that you think can be improved in the UK through learning from practice abroad. I came across the fellowship when I was searching for professional development opportunities that didn’t involve doing a masters and thought it sounded like an unbelievable opportunity. I submitted my initial proposal and then, once shortlisted, I had to produce a more detailed itinerary and budget before attending a final face-to-face interview.   

I was lucky to get awarded a fellowship for 2024, but that is when things get a bit intimidating, making your hypothetical proposal come to life! 

My fellowship project

My fellowship project was looking at how people with communication difficulties are supported in advance care planning and came under the palliative care theme. There are very few speech and language therapists working in specialist palliative care services, meaning that people with communication difficulties will often not have access to the specialist support they need to take part in advance care planning and decision making at the end of life.  

I set out the aims of my project as:  

• Improving how people with communication difficulties are supported to partake in advance care planning.  
• Highlighting the role SLTs can play in supporting advance care planning, as well as developing solutions for communication support in the absence of SLTs, which is the current scenario in most palliative care services in the UK.  
• Having an impact on the perception of the value of SLTs in palliative care and supporting advance care planning at a national level.  

I chose to travel to the USA and Europe because of the similarities which would make my learning the most applicable to the UK. As the role of speech and language therapists in palliative care is still in its infancy and evolving across the globe, my project question was quite broad, and I didn’t have a set idea of specifically where and who I wanted to learn from. I planned my trips all as individual meetings and visits and was really fortunate that a lot of the people I had proposed to visit responded to me and also then provided me with other contacts. I met with SLTs – in clinical practice and education, doctors, nurses, social workers, charities, a psychology trainee and a hospice manager. I visited hospitals, universities, a hospice, a centre of excellence for Huntington’s disease and attended a conference.  

The travelling itself is a whirlwind, but I truly had the best time and have so many incredible memories of different experiences. I crammed a lot in and visited Oregon, California, New York, Boston, Austria and the Netherlands.  

What I’ll take from it

The experience has already had a huge impact, both professionally and personally. It was a great opportunity for me to step back from my clinical role and see the bigger picture. I learnt so much and made amazing connections. It has given me so much direction and inspiration in how to address my original project of how people with communication difficulties are supported in advance care planning. When completing my report I categorised my learning into four main themes: training and education (for SLTs and the multidisciplinary team), the use of resources and foundational learning, SLTs as gatekeepers in AAC, and defining the role of SLTs in specialist palliative care.  

I then made several recommendations for change which are detailed in my final report, including that:  

• everyone with a palliative diagnosis and communication difficulties should have access to an SLT 
• all healthcare professionals should receive training on communication difficulties and SLTs should be trained in palliative and end-of-life care from undergraduate level 
• resources should be utilised to support understanding in advance care planning conversations 
• speech and language therapy needs to be a recognised role in palliative and end-of-life care, with SLTs continuing to define, promote and raise awareness of their role. 

I am excited to continue to share my learning and work towards achieving these recommendations.  

Challenges and advice  

Time was a challenge for me. I had put off applying the year before because I was moving jobs, and when it came around again there were other things that would pose challenges. But I just thought if I was successful I would make it work somehow, as there will never be a perfect time. To combat this, I decided to split my travel in two and opt for the lower number of weeks (you can do between 4-8 weeks travel). Another thing to factor in is it does take a lot of time planning, producing your report and sharing your findings, it really isn’t just the time you are travelling (but it is worth it!). 

I would absolutely encourage anyone to consider applying. It such an amazing and unique opportunity which can open so many doors. For anyone doing it or something similar my top tip is to keep a blog capture your thinking at the time and to ensure you remember everything which makes it so much easier when you come to write your report.  

Read Sophie’s final report                                                 Read Sophie’s travel blog