January 9, 2013

quality of death: the evidence on palliative care

Death is one of the very few things that happens to us all, yet as a society we are surprisingly bad at talking about it. Recent debate about the Liverpool Care Pathway has brought some of the issues to the fore, but how much do we really know about palliative and end of life care? How should we treat those in their final days, and is there ever such a thing as a ‘good death’?

The SMC invited three leading experts in palliative medicine to talk about their work and the wider evidence on palliative and end of life care. They answered questions such as:

• what is palliative care and how do we decide who needs it?
• can palliative care actually prolong a patient’s survival?
• how is palliative care provided, and how is it accessed by those who need it?
• what research is being done into palliative care; is it enough?

Speakers:

Dr Bee Wee, Consultant and Senior Lecturer in Palliative Medicine, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and University of Oxford, & President of the Association for Palliative Medicine

Prof Irene Higginson, Professor of Palliative Care and Policy, Kings College London, & Scientific Director of Cicely Saunders International

Dr David Brooks, Macmillan Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Chesterfield Royal Hospital, & Vice-President of the Association for Palliative Medicine