We are all aware of the headlines about the impact of government austerity measures on communities up and down the UK. But what impact has austerity had on people’s experiences of dying and, specifically, their ability to die in their own home? What is it like to be facing death in materially constrained circumstances in… Continue reading
Authors: Julie Lang, Dr Sheri Mila Gerson, Dr Sarah Pickstock (Consultant, Palliative Medicine, NHS Dumfries and Galloway) Steven Eastwood’s powerful documentary film Island was screened at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary as a part of Dying Matters Week. This was a collaborative event between the academic community of the End-of-Life studies Group and the clinical staff… Continue reading
Death is not monolithic. It is better to think about deaths and dyings. So said a participant about what she had learnt from our half day symposium on reading and writing death, in May 2019, held at the St Mungo Museum for Religious Life and Art in Glasgow . Not monolithic indeed. Our plan for… Continue reading
Every year in May, Dying Matters and their coalition members host an Awareness Week, which presents an unparalleled opportunity to place the importance of talking about dying, death and bereavement firmly on the national agenda. In 2019, the week will run from 13th to the 19th of May and the theme is ‘Are We Ready’?… Continue reading
Since it was first published in 2008, and then updated in 2013, the ‘world map’ of palliative care development has attracted the interest of advocacy people, policy makers and fellow researchers. It remains the only attempt to assess the level of palliative care development in every sovereign state recognised by the United Nations. Results of… Continue reading
People with life-limiting illnesses report exceptionally high rates of psychosocial and existential suffering in conjunction with bodily pain. Cicely Saunders famously conceptualized this cumulative distress as ‘total pain’. As you may already know, we’re pretty interested in total pain around here. Professor David Clark has written extensively about it (see here for an overview), and… Continue reading
In the 2017-2018 academic year, myself, Dr Naomi Richards, and Dr Elizabeth Reeder held a series of reading and writing workshops centered around the topic of death and dying. We each facilitated a couple of workshops. A fellow PhD student, Solveiga Zibaite also facilitated a workshop. They brought together a diverse group of people all… Continue reading
This week I was delighted to receive a letter seeking permission for the little book Watch with Me to be translated into Slovenian. Publication of the new edition next year will mean Watch with Me has been translated into six languages. More could be on the way. The continuing interest in the book is its… Continue reading
