Ronald Macintyre of Opening Educational Practices in Scotland (OEPS) gives an introduction to their open learning project and explains why our teams are working together to develop learning resources for people interested in end of life issues. Who are OEPS? The easiest way to talk about who we are and what we do is to… Continue reading
The 1970s and 1980s saw palliative care services starting all over Britain – hospices and NHS ‘continuing care units’, day units, home care services, hospital consultation services, ‘hospice at home’. Those were undeniably exciting times but they brought many problems and challenges. Where were the trained staff? There were no plans or policies in place… 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
I feel moved to write having read about your work in Melanie Reid’s article in The Times (14 March). I have a deep personal interest in end of life care. My daughter Megan Young died of cancer in January 2010, aged 32. My husband died of cancer in 1990, aged 42. I have also experienced… Continue reading
Melanie Reid is an enormously respected journalist who writes a much-followed piece in The Times every Saturday. ‘Spinal column’ is her weekly set of reflections on life and the wider world – seen from the perspective of a person who is now tetrapelgic following a riding accident. Imagine then, the pleasure of reading her brilliant piece for… Continue reading
How could we not believe miracles don’t happen when we actually witnessed one! That miracle to us was the successful accomplishment of the STUDENTSPALCON2015 international conference on the topic “youth in palliative care” organized mutually by the Institute of Palliative Medicine, Calicut and the Students in Palliative Care. To organize a conference was initially… Continue reading
In previous posts I have told how exciting it was when the ‘pioneers’ of hospice/palliative care realised that, much as they thought they were introducing something new to patient care, they were in fact pleading for recognition and acceptance of the most basic, undeniable, ages-old features of compassionate care. Cynics described that as ‘reinventing the… Continue reading
Recently I had an opportunity to spend time at some of the Maggie’s Centres throughout Scotland. This formed part of a Medical Humanities project during the third year of my degree in Medicine. As we know, an aim is always a good place to start and I set out to learn about the philosophy, development and core principles… Continue reading
