Our University of Glasgow study team, supported by a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award, is examining how responses to end of life issues are developing around the world, and with what consequences. Death, dying and bereavement are topics that mainly sit on the margins of the humanities and social sciences. Whilst end of life care attracts… Continue reading
So, another year and another trip to India. During the last three years I have travelled to various cities of India to attend the yearly conferences of the Indian Society for the Study of Pain (ISSP) and the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) in order to collect data for my social science doctorate, looking… Continue reading
Just before Easter 1961, Cicely Saunders sat down to send greetings to a colleague. It was someone who shared her interests in developing special facilities and approaches for the care of the dying – especially those with advanced cancer. Nothing unusual in that. She was now getting into her stride with a growing ambition… Continue reading
The Scottish Government Palliative and End of Life Stakeholders Group had its first meeting in Glasgow on the 24th of March 2015, organised by the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care. The purpose of this group is to contribute to and inform the ongoing development of the development of a national Strategic Framework for Action for… Continue reading
Thanks to David Clark for allowing us to introduce readers of his blog to our recent publication entitled Death, Dying, and Bereavement: Contemporary Perspectives, Institutions, and Practices. Written by luminaries who have shaped the field, this capstone book distills the collective wisdom of foremost scholars and practitioners who together have nearly a millennium of experience… Continue reading
This week in Kerala, southern India, the first ever student and young people’s palliative care conference is taking place. It is called STUDENTSPALCON 2015. The impetus has come from the ever-resourceful Institute of Palliative Medicine in Kozhikode, and the associated Neighbourhood Networks in Palliative Care. The conference website states: “Critical engagement with the idea of… Continue reading
The ATOME project comes to a close after five years of research and advocacy. The results strengthen our knowledge of barriers and challenges to access to opioid medication and more importantly how to overcome them. The project outputs include: the revised WHO policy guidelines on ensuring balance to controlled medicines and detailed reports on barriers… Continue reading
At the end of January 2014 I learned that I had been successful in winning a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award in the Medical Humanities. The new project starts on 1st March 2015 and is focussed on improving our understanding of interventions at the end life. It will take a global perspective and will… Continue reading
