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
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
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
Billy Connolly’s Big Send Off has done a lot to raise public interest in funerals, rituals and memorials of various kinds, and has touched and amused us in the process. The recent and hugely successful Dying Matters awareness week – You Only Die Once (#YODO) – has also drawn attention to end of life care needs across… Continue reading
Ten million people in the UK are over the age of 65 and the need for end of life care is growing. The pressures on healthcare services, the caring profession and family carers are set to rise in coming years. But for many people in the UK, death and how we die are difficult… Continue reading
Have you ever considered how you might like to die? You may have made a will, but do you have an advance care plan stating your wishes and preferences for when your life comes to an end? You may have a ‘bucket list’ of things you want to do before you die, but where and… Continue reading
