By Dr. Suzanne Kite, MbCHB, BMedSci, MA, FRCP President, Association for Palliative Medicine The Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3297-1042 X @APMPosttweets The long awaited National Health Service (NHS) 10 yr plan for England has been published (1), and reactions and commentaries across the health and social care sector have been posted. There is broad […]
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What did a Welsh Spring Teach Me About Palliative Care?
By Kirstine Bøndergaard, MD, PhD Student Palliative Care Research Aarhus, Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark ORCID-iD: 0009-0009-7877-5934 LinkedIn: Kirstine Boendergaard Follow: CASEMED DENMARK CASEMED Publications: https://casemed.webnode.dk/ From April through mid-May 2025, I spent six weeks on a research stay in Cardiff, Wales, as part of my PhD project on palliative care for patients […]
The assisted dying era begins – what now for palliative care?
Dr Matthew Doré – Palliative Care Consultant Northern Ireland Hospice & Belfast Trust Hon Sec of APM and Co-lead Clin ECHO This is the question weighing heavily on the hearts of many palliative care physicians. The numbers of palliative care physicians are clear (5 surveys over 10 years): roughly 80% oppose assisted dying, 15% remain […]
French Palliative Care Congress 2025 – 31ème congrès de la SFAP
Auteurs: Bernard Paternostre, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Praticien Hospitalier – Service de Médecine palliative et d’Accompagnement – CHU de Bordeaux – Chargé d’enseignement à l’Université de Bordeaux, France Etienne Hubert, bénévole d’accompagnement à la Maison Jeanne Garnier, Paris, France Plus de 3000 congressistes venant de France et d’une quinzaine de pays – infirmières, aide-soignantes, psychologues, […]
The value of using the African Palliative Outcome Scale in community care in Kenya
By Stella Rithara, Elizabeth Ng’uono Odalo, Asaph Kinyanjui, Catherine Nelson and Dr Sally Hull Take Home Messages: The APCA-POS tool can be used effectively in routine community hospice care in Kenya, where care is mainly provided by community health workers. All the teams gained from ‘uncovering’ needs which were previously unrecognised. Patient’s experience of pain, […]
Minton’s travel-log, or “Ei kukaan ole seppä syntyessään” – EAPC 2025 Helsinki
by Dr Ollie Minton, Consultant Palliative Medicine, Brighton, UK Ei kukaan ole seppä syntyessään – Nobody is a blacksmith at birth, meaning learning takes time and dedication. Welcome back my fellow travellers tempus fugit or whatever the Finnish version is another conference completed (2024 already buried in the archives) Vicky Cristina Hola Barcelona – […]
Do concerns about assisted dying apply just as much to palliative care at the end of life?
By Prof, James Downar and Prof. Sam H Ahmedzai Take Home Messages: We can never be 100% certain that an unconscious person is comfortable, but this is more of a concern for palliative sedation than for assisted dying. People may feel pressured into assisted death by family members, but we routinely allow the same family […]
Sapporo Spring 2025 Newsletter
Author: Dr. Kunihiko Ishitani President of The International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference for Palliative and Supportive Care in Cancer President, Higashi Sapporo Hospital, Japan Introduction For our Spring Newsletter (for full newsletter, see link below) I have been reflecting on immunotherapy and its relation to palliative care. The recent remarkable advances in cancer […]
“Faecal vomiting” – a case of frequently mentioned, but rarely seen
Author: Dr Tony Duffy, Consultant Palliative Medicine, Edinburgh, Scotland Introduction: In the context of the current UK assisted dying debate, the terms ‘faecal’ and ‘faeculent’ vomiting have been publicly employed, including during the Second Reading debate in parliament. This terminology has featured in stories of unpleasant deaths to contextualise why some people feel assisted suicide […]
How 20 minutes of mindful breathing can rapidly reduce intensity of cancer pain
News: Malaysian study reveals that 20 minutes of mindful breathing can rapidly reduce intensity of cancer pain It complements traditional pain relief and broadens repertoire of options, says a team of Malaysian researchers in our main journal Twenty minutes of mindful breathing, which focuses a person’s attention on their breath, can rapidly reduce the […]