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
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
Cicely Saunders was a great writer of letters. Indefatigable in her correspondence, she was equally happy dashing off the briefest of newsy notes, or setting out several pages of detailed text, full of insight and reflection. My acquaintance with her letters, built up over many years, was invaluable to me as I was writing her… Continue reading
Palliative and end of life care is still a small field of activity, but it has quickly developed a global network of people who want to work together, often in productive ways. It was my pleasure in the last few weeks of 2018 to welcome to the University of Glasgow, Dumfries Campus some of the… Continue reading
A few weeks ago I attended a Syrian Suppers fundraising event. It seemed a long way from my current interests in the life and legacy of Cicely Saunders, but just before leaving I was asked by an acquaintance about when my latest book was coming out. It was just one example among so many of… Continue reading
It is almost 20 years since ideas about an integrated pathway for the care of the dying were formulated by John Ellershaw and his colleagues in Liverpool. When I first heard the originator speak about it at a lunchtime seminar in Sheffield in November 2001, I recall a two-fold reaction. On the one hand it… Continue reading
In 1961 Cicely Saunders, in a short article written for a general audience, observed: ‘A society which shuns the dying must have an incomplete philosophy’ [1]. The remark is loaded with import. In her observation, ‘the dying’, seem to constitute a known social category. Not only neglected, they are persistently avoided, ignored, or rejected through… Continue reading
In recent times I have been struck by the widespread use of the term ‘compassion’. It is being colonized by many groups, organisations and discourses – sometimes with rather opposing purposes. Widely used by the supporters of palliative care, it has also been adopted by those that promote assisted dying. It is found in the… Continue reading
