To paraphrase the Beatles, it was 20 years ago this summer that a remarkable group of clinicians, academics and activists got together under the patronage of the billionaire philanthropist, George Soros, to create an initiative with the disarming goal of transforming the culture of dying – in a society that is perhaps more death… Continue reading
Imagine a project which seeks to take the best attributes of hospice care and inculcate them into the fabric of the acute hospital. Not just one hospital, but all hospitals in a whole country. Consider a project that is about a joined up approach to clinical care when death is near, that takes seriously the… Continue reading
The UK welfare state upon its creation in 1948 sought to vouchsafe care ‘from the cradle to the grave’, yet the early years of the National Health Service saw little attention to care at the end of life and focused instead on addressing the widespread acute and chronic health problems of a society grappling with… Continue reading
Read this great account from a student who spent time this summer in the Institute of Palliative Medicine, Kerala. Huge thanks to Athira Unni for allowing us to post this piece from her own blog, which can be found at: http://chocolateandink.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/monsoon-ipm-discovering-palliative-care-2/ And thanks to Suresh Kumar for making the introduction. This summer I met… Continue reading
Modern day pain specialists continue to be fascinated by the actions and interactions of particular drugs in specific combinations. As the art and science of such work progresses it is worth reminding ourselves of practices and assumptions that prevailed in the not too distant past – and how quickly these could change. In this respect,… Continue reading
Modern activists in palliative and end of life care work increasingly in a global context, where international links and collaborations have been become a regular feature of day to day activity. But it was not always the case. The early pioneers lived in an era before the internet and instant electronic communication. It is interesting… Continue reading
I am delighted to report that Dr Derek Doyle received the award of Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Glasgow at a graduation ceremony on our Dumfries Campus, on 9 July. The award was made by the University Chancellor, Professor Sir Kenneth Calman. It was a special moment for the two of them,… Continue reading
A new report has just appeared from the excellent Atlantes team at the University of Navarra in Spain. It sets out a detailed description of the development in Europe of palliative medicine as a field of specialisation. This is a challenging issue to study, in a context where modes of accreditation, licensing and associated procedural… Continue reading
