As a medical anthropologist on the Wellcome Trust funded project Global Interventions at the End of Life, I am interested in community participation in palliative care. In our study we are investigating the transfer and translation of a range of end of life interventions, across cultures and settings. One of these is the Neighbourhood Networks in Palliative Care… Continue reading
In the context of armed conflict, humanitarianism frequently functions as palliation. It is a powerful tool which must be used cautiously, with a close eye on political agendas, asserts Dr Kurt Mills of the Glasgow Human Rights Network in his new book. Palliation as a concept is most often used in the context of end… Continue reading
I genuinely didn’t know anything about Dr Feelgood. The film title ‘The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson’ was also a mystery to me. The online blurb about the film was similarly obscure, describing how director Julien Temple had produced an ‘overflowing visual cocktail’ serving up ‘Bunuel, Tarkovsky, Cocteau and Marcel Powell as fellow travellers on his… Continue reading
Professor David Clark has given evidence to the Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee inquiry on palliative care. The full text of his written report International comparisons in palliative care provision: What can the indicators tell us? is now available. As Wellcome Trust Investigator on the Global Interventions at the End of Life research project… Continue reading
The night is black all around. The ‘supermoon’ is rising over the loch behind us. The damp air is on our backs. But our faces are warmed by the fire. The talk, drifting over the flames, is about mortality. This is the EAFS ‘off grid’ environmental festival, where artists, writers, makers and dreamers of dreams… Continue reading
Being taken round a New Zealand hospice I was amused and, let’s admit it, thrilled to see a well-worn copy of the book, its hard cover almost falling off. “Well used !” I said to the doctor. “ Yes indeed” he said: “perfect for holding up the old piano!” Thankfully he then pointed to two… Continue reading
The public has responded to a call for views on the state of palliative care in Scotland, and with the publication of these submissions the Scottish Parliament Inquiry into Palliative Care is making rapid progress. I am struck by two things: the great variety of these responses, but also the rather low volume. Perhaps that tells… Continue reading
Sandy Fraser, The Open University I’m 55 years old and have just acquired a long-term health condition. It might be a quite a few years before I acquire another health condition, still longer before I die. Life expectancy for men and women continues to increase but so has the proportion of life spent living with… Continue reading
