“Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’ / We are not now that strength which in old days / Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; / One equal temper of heroic hearts, / Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses These six lines from a poem written in 1833 continue to speak with force and vigour….

Pilgrimage is an ancient practice and a feature of most of the major religions we have today. Often thought to be of benefit to spirituality, what about the benefits to psychological, emotional and also physical wellbeing? Some studies have sought to explore this in more detail, but few have looked at the impact of pilgrimage on quality of life (QOL) and wellbeing. Our study ‘The Lourdes…

Working in Nepal with children and families with Polio gave me a huge regard for its vaccine creator Jonas Salk. However, it is his question posed in 1992 that has been preoccupying me most recently  “Are we being good ancestors?”(1) Salk asserts that while we cannot choose our parents we can choose, or at least have more influence on, our ancestors. As a recent grandparent and a palliative care…

Public health is often thought to be solely connected to surveillance sciences of epidemiology, health service research, and historically concerning sewerage, clean water, infectious and sexually transmittable diseases. However, public health palliative care refers to the tradition of public health that emphasises the practice models of community development, health policy, health service…

So what I have I learnt in 20 years? Everything and nothing…..some things are difficult to pin down…..oft times as ephemeral as a butterflies wings…..sometimes like stones thrown at me. Mostly a lot…..and a little…..where often the little unexpected counts for more. I have always thought that within medicine, and particularly palliative care, people let us in to their lives at times of…

“Caring for the dying is often very demanding. It requires not just clinical competence and the ability to communicate with honesty and compassion. It also demands that we are able to live with uncertainty and the awareness that death comes to us all.”  So wrote Rosalie Shaw in the introduction to her book Soft Sift in an hourglass – stories of hope and resilience at the end of life – When…

I’ve always believed that we are the best people to solve our own difficulties. We may need advice from experts, support from friends and time to mull things over, but we are far more likely to solve a problem successfully if we do it ‘our way.’ ‘That’s true whether we are trying to choose a new car or kitchen gadget, adapt to big life changes like a bereavement or developing a health problem,…

Clair Sadler, Senior Lecturer at Princess Alice Hospice, reflects on 20 years of their European Certificate of Essential Palliative Care (ECEPC) Speaking to socially distanced colleagues and guests last October was the moment I was able to share just how far we’ve come. We had gathered to celebrate the success of the European Certificate of Essential Palliative Care (ECEPC), a training course…