Posts by David Clark

Dr Suresh Kumar pays tribute to a friend of the same name

Published on: Author: David Clark 4 Comments

We don’t often post pieces of this kind on our blog, but I was so struck by the simplicity of this tribute when I read it, that I asked its writer if we could post it here. Dr Suresh Kumar, a good friend to our group and active collaborator, is well known for his work… Continue reading

Moving forward with the third ‘world map’ of palliative care development

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Members of the University of Glasgow End of Life Studies Group are collaborating with the ATLANTES Global Observatory of Palliative Care, University of Navarra and the Worldwide Hospice and Palliative Care Alliance, to conduct a third study of the state of palliative care development around the world. Based on data from 2017, the new ‘world… Continue reading

The ‘world map’ of palliative care development – our efforts to improve the method

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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

‘Watch with Me’ and the continuing significance of Cicely Saunders

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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

End of life issues in Japan and the UK: the Mitori Project blossoms

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When our Japanese colleagues arrived in Scotland in early spring for the launch of a new collaborative research project, I was delighted to see the interest they took in the cherry blossom that was starting to appear around our Dumfries campus. As our week together unfolded, the beauty of the trees appeared to match the… Continue reading

End of life care: how to save hospices from collapse? Less medicine and some lessons from India

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David Clark, University of Glasgow For the first time ever, one of Britain’s 200 independent hospices has closed its doors. St Clare’s in Jarrow near Newcastle had been serving its community in the north east of England for 30 years, raising most of its annual costs of £2.2m from local charitable giving. But after a… Continue reading

The Mitori Project – keeping a ‘watching brief’ on end of life issues in Japan and the UK

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In summer 2018 I spotted a call from the Economic and Social Research Council seeking proposals to build collaboration between researchers in Japan and the United Kingdom, with no constraints on the subject matter. It looked an interesting opportunity. I quickly reached out to my Japanese colleague the philosopher Hirobumi Takenouchi and within a few… Continue reading

Controversies in palliative care: a matter of definition

Published on: Author: David Clark 16 Comments

The compassionate world of palliative care is currently going through what one activist has called ‘a winter of discontent’. In a field where a sense of shared and pioneering purpose has long driven development, a measure of disagreement has broken out. The major advocacy and professional societies in palliative care are lining up on opposite… Continue reading