Author: Dr Simon Tavabie, Transforming End of Life Care Fellow @UCLH & Palliative Care Doctor (on behalf of the authors of the SEECareUK study) Dr Tavabie summarises the findings from the recently published Seeking Excellence in End-of-Life Care UK (SEECareUK) study It’s a Saturday morning at your local District General Hospital and sadly, […]
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BODIES – A Medical Humanities Conference
Author: Dr Ishminder Mangat, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, England Bodies was the first ever medical humanities conference to take place in Bristol: it was held on Monday 26th June 2023 in the grand and imposing neo-Gothic Wills Memorial Building. For this summary article, I have tried to capture an account of […]
Looking through the eyes of the sailor…by Christiaan A. Rhodius
(Edvard Munch “Døden ved roret”, 1893. Photo: Munchmuseet / Svein Andersen) Great to have a breeze. Without it a sailor goes nowhere. I just had to pull my hat down to make sure it wouldn’t blow away. I have secured a good position in the boat, one leg stretched for support and the other bent. […]
New ruling on care of dying in India will force some to live life “of machine-related suffering”
-NEWS- India: Progressive step, but ruling still has important shortcomings & missed opportunities, say specialists The newly revised ruling on advance medical directives and withholding/withdrawing medical support for the dying in India will inevitably force some terminally ill patients to “live a life of machine-related suffering” and deprive them of their autonomy and dignity […]
Antimicrobial Stewardship in End-of-Life Care
Following the successful Irish Association for Palliative Care Seminar in February 2023, we publish here a summary of the winning presentation on the day. Cian Lannon and colleagues have written a short summary for the BMJ SPC blog Authors: Lannon C., Reilly L., Kennedy G., Fleming C., Waldron D. University Hospital Galway, Saolta Group, Ireland […]
Dealing with Media Interview Requests- How (not) to be heard
Author Prof. Mark Taubert, Consultant in Palliative Medicine amd Clinical Director, Velindre University NHS Trust, Cardiff, UK Do you know how best to prepare if you are asked for an interview by the media? Get it right, and it can do wonders for the subject matter you are passionate about and/or your organisation. But get […]
A Quality Improvement Project looking at written Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation decisions
Authors Prof. Mark Taubert, Consultant in Palliative Medicine and national strategic lead Advance & Future Care Planning, Wales Dr. Ellen Haire, palliative care doctor and researcher, Cardiff University, Wales Mr. Alan Buckle, patient/carer representative on All Wales Advance & Future Care Planning Group which oversees DNACPR policy for NHS Wales Introduction In the United […]
Bagelology
Author: Dr Matthew Doré – Palliative Care Consultant in Northern Ireland Hospice and Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast on his reflections from the 2023 Palliative Care Congress in Edinburgh Is a bagel a bagel without the hole? The hole is nothing, an emptiness a void positioned in the middle of lovely cooked cinnamon dough. But, […]
Compassionate Cities Conference in Birmingham
Author: Dr Julian Abel, Director Compassionate Communities UK and chair of organising committee Compassionate Cities Conference, Birmingham July 10th and 11th Hosted by Compassionate Communities UK Click Here for Programme and details An inspiring conference, bringing to light how people undergoing the experiences of death, dying, loss and care, can be supported. This should and can […]
The Sin of Sympatigo
Dr Matthew Doré, Palliative Care Consultant Northern Ireland Hospice and Belfast Trust SYMPATIGO DEFINITION: v. To listen intently and sympathize with your colleagues when they request assistance, and then to simply, and completely, forget about it. n. The ability to sympathize with, yet ignore, requests for help.1 In my ignorance I looked up a word ‘sympatiCO’ and […]