By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 The following was recorded directly from an acting seminar in North Wales on how to act like a specialist doctor. The text has been presented in an easy to read format: […]
Latest articles
Controversy: A good death- tyranny or useful concept? By Libby Sallnow and Erica Borgstrom
The publication of a new paper has reignited the age-old debate on the term ‘a good death’. Here, we discuss some of the discussions that emerged as a consequence; Twitter was asked the question, ‘A good death: tyranny or useful concept?’ The responses were critical, varied, came from across the globe, and suggest there remains […]
SEECare & a Sea Change?- How NHS Hospitals care for you when you’re dying
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, […]
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. […]
Meet the Editors: Cindy Forbes
As part of a new series, we will feature some of the people who work for BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. Cindy Forbes, Research Fellow at The University of Hull, Hull, UK Hello Dr. Forbes. Where do you work? I work at the University of Hull in the UK What roles do you currently hold? […]
BMJ SPC Editor-in-chief receives Supportive Oncology Award
– NEWS – Prof Declan Walsh, editor-in-chief of BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, has received the Walther Cancer Foundation Endowed Supportive Oncology Award at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting in June. The award goes to distinguished leaders who have contributed significantly to palliative and supportive oncology care. Prof Walsh said: “It is an honour […]
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 […]
EAPC 2023 – From our much delayed correspondent in Rotterdam
“Could be Rotterdam, or anywhere…” by Dr Ollie Minton, Palliative Care Consultant and roving reporter/content creator at the European Association for Palliative Care 18th World Congress in De Doelen, Rotterdam, Netherlands Uitbuiken is Dutch, and literally translates as ‘out-belly,’: it means to sit back and let your food go down. There’s no English equivalent, […]
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 […]