by Dr Mark Taubert, Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Velindre NHS Trust, Cardiff, Wales @DrMarkTaubert What do you do when a piece of debris in space sends out an end of life distress message via Twitter? This particular message read as follows: “Your people predict I will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere early 2017. […]
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Menkel’s Kinky Hair versus Dilnott Fairer Care – Journeys through Nuncupation
It’s eponymous my dear Watson! Eponymous adjective 1. (of a person) giving their name to something. “the eponymous hero of the novel” 2. (of a thing) named after a particular person or group. “their eponymous debut LP” Medical students of a certain vintage will have used the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine. There was a […]
It’s good to talk and even better to communicate effectively
by Dr Ollie Minton, Macmillan consultant and honorary senior lecturer in palliative medicine I remember the old British Telecom adverts moving from Maureen Lipman’s “ooh he’s got an ology” to the final incarnation of Bob Hoskins “It’s good to talk”. I’m fairly certain after this, the internet took off and the simple phone call was […]
Knowledge translation & impact at the end of life
by Dr Ollie Minton, Macmillan consultant and honorary senior lecturer in palliative medicine 2004 was a long time ago (not quite in a galaxy far, far away), but sufficient time has passed for the highly lauded NICE supportive and palliative care guidance to have been enacted. ( https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/csg4 ) The clearly stated aim was 7 day […]
Kate Granger
by Dr Mark Taubert, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Velindre Cancer Centre, Cardiff On July 23, 2016, Dr. Kate Granger died at St Gemma’s Hospice. Goodbye Kate. Some words. Where can we live, but days? A message you sent me in October 2013 read, “I have high expectations of myself & what I can achieve – I […]
Letter to Bowie read at Hay Festival by Benedict Cumberbatch
A letter written by Dr. Mark Taubert after David Bowie’ s death in January and originally published on our BMJ SPCare blog, was read out by the actor Benedict Cumerbatch at Hay Literary Festival on Saturday the 28th May 2016. Cumberbatch performed the reading as part of an event called Letters Live, organized by Shaun […]
The Digital Legacy Conference 2016
By Sandy Weatherburn, Founder & Director at Social Embers Digital estate management This weekend I attended the Digital Legacy Conference in Hackney, London, which was held at St Joseph’s Hospice. The conference was organised by The Digital Legacy Association (DLA) to raise awareness of issues surrounding death and dying that are becoming increasingly important in […]
A thank you letter to David Bowie from a palliative care doctor
By Dr Mark Taubert, Palliative Care Consultant at Velindre NHS Trust, Cardiff, UK @DrMarkTaubert Dear David, Oh no, don’t say it’s true – whilst realization of your death was sinking in during those grey, cold January days of 2016, many of us went on with our day jobs. At the beginning of that week […]
Free wi-fi in healthcare settings – luxury or prerequisite?
by Dr Mark Taubert, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Velindre Hospital NHS Trust, Cardiff, Wales @DrMarkTaubert and James Norris, Founder of the Digital Legacy Association, Camden, London @JamesNorris Many visitors to hotels, once they have unpacked, settled and polished off the chocolate mint placed on their cushions, will take […]
Symplur and the Heathcare Hashtag project
by Dr Mark Taubert, Consultant in Palliative Medicine and Clinical Director for Palliative Medicine at Velindre NHS Trust, Cardiff, UK. Twitter: @DrMarkTaubert Finding the conversations that interest you most on Twitter can either be easy or difficult, depending on the complexity of what you are looking for. For instance, if you want to know what […]