I have known and worked with Dr Carlos Centeno since we first met at a conference of the EAPC in Geneva in 1999. Over the years, and as our friendship has grown, we have mainly collaborated on studies associated with the EAPC European Atlas of Palliative Care. Recently, Carlos has established the ATLANTES research programme… Continue reading
I like small scale but clever gadgets. Personal favorites are a 1950s wall hung hand coffee grinder and a steam driven stove top expresso pot. They are human scale technologies. While I gain much from the daily exertion they require, the longer I use them, the more I like to think I am paying my… Continue reading
I recently successfully defended my PhD thesis at the University of Glasgow. This post is about my study in the palliative care field, and reflects upon my experience as a researcher in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies/Institute of Health and Wellbeing. I undertook my PhD as a part-time student whilst practising as a solicitor in… Continue reading
I am old enough to be called “one of the pioneers of palliative care” but serious amnesia has not yet set in (so far as I remember)! I can recall much from those pioneering days, including the hours spent trying to devise comprehensive definitions so that, as we told each other “people will come to… Continue reading
This post is written from Scotland, to celebrate World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2014. My purpose is to highlight the need for services for frail older people as they face the end of their lives. I think few of us are aware that the over 80-year age group is currently the only part of… Continue reading
By the late nineteenth century, the people of Europe and North America were living longer and in societies of rapidly increasing size. A transformation of unprecedented proportions had brought industrialisation, urbanisation, geographic mobility, the rise of scientific rationalities, political and ideological upheaval, and a growing questioning of religious values. The population of Europe had doubled… Continue reading
A striking feature of Cicely Saunders’ early work was its articulation of the relationship between physical and mental suffering. This reached full expression with the concept of ‘total pain’, which was taken to include physical symptoms, mental distress, social problems and emotional difficulties. The idea was launched on the world exactly 50 years ago, in… Continue reading
Interventions at the end of life – social, comparative and historical analysis to promote global improvement. It’s an unwieldy title and it contains a lot of dimensions. It will be a challenging project to design, to conduct and to deliver. But what an opportunity to invest major time and resources in an issue of such… Continue reading
