Palliative care is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Within the published literature, many definitions of palliative care exist. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes palliative care as "an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial, and spiritual." In the past, palliative care was a disease specific approach, but today the WHO takes a broader patient-centered approach that suggests that the principles of palliative care should be applied as early as possible to any chronic and ultimately fatal illness. This shift was important because if a disease-oriented approach is followed, the needs and preferences of the patient are not fully met and aspects of care, such as pain, quality of life, and social support, as well as spiritual and emotional needs, fail to be addressed. Rather, a patient-centered model prioritizes relief of suffering and tailors care to increase the quality of life for terminally ill patients.
Barnstaple is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from which it earned great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, but its harbour silted up and other trades developed such as shipbuilding, foundries and sawmills. A Victorian market building survives, with a high glass and timber roof on iron columns. The parish population was 24,033 at the 2011 census, and that of the built-up area 32,411 in 2018. The town area with nearby settlements such as Bishop's Tawton, Fremington and Landkey, had a 2020 population of 46,619.
Alexander Martin Clunes OBE DL is an English actor, comedian, director and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Martin Ellingham in the ITV comedy-drama series Doc Martin and Gary Strang in Men Behaving Badly. Clunes has narrated a number of documentaries for ITV, the first of which was Islands of Britain in 2009. He has since presented a number of documentaries centred on animals. He has also voiced Kipper the Dog in the animated series Kipper.
Dame Cicely Mary Strode Saunders was an English nurse, social worker, physician and writer. She is noted for her work in terminal care research and her role in the birth of the hospice movement, emphasising the importance of palliative care in modern medicine, and opposing the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia.
Kirsty Ellen Howard was an English children's hospice advocate known for her fundraising efforts for Francis House Children's Hospice in Didsbury, Manchester. As a patient of the hospice, Howard was the figurehead of the Kirsty's Club, a charity dedicated for fundraising for the facility, which was severely underfunded at the time. Her efforts gained national support and attention. At the time of her death, she had raised over £7.5 million for the hospice.
Marie Curie is a registered charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which provides care and support to people living with a terminal illness and those close to them, and campaigns for better support for dying people. It was established in 1948, the same year as the National Health Service (NHS).
Fremington is a large village, civil parish and former manor in North Devon, England, the historic centre of which is situated three miles (4.8 km) west of Barnstaple. The village lies between the south bank of the tidal estuary of the River Taw and a small inlet of that river known as Fremington Pill. The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Heanton Punchardon, Ashford, West Pilton, Barnstaple, Tawstock, Horwood, Lovacott and Newton Tracey, and Instow.
Royal Trinity Hospice is the oldest hospice in the United Kingdom; it was founded in 1891 by a member of the Hoare banking family. It is located in Clapham Common, London, England, and provides specialist palliative care. In 2019, Royal Trinity Hospice was rated "Outstanding" by the Care Quality Commission, the highest rating that can be awarded. The hospice provides palliative and end of life care for patients in an inpatient unit at their Clapham Common headquarters and in the community, wherever patients may be living. In 2018, Trinity cared for 2,500 patients; in addition, the hospice provided pre- and post-bereavement support for over 900 carers.
Sue Ryder is a British palliative, neurological and bereavement support charity based in the United Kingdom. Formed as The Sue Ryder Foundation in 1953 by World War II Special Operations Executive volunteer Sue Ryder, the organisation provides care and support for people living with terminal illnesses and neurological conditions, as well as individuals who are coping with a bereavement. The charity was renamed Sue Ryder Care in 1996, before adopting its current name in 2011.
The King's Award for Voluntary Service, previously known as The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sector of the United Kingdom. Winning groups are announced in the London Gazette on 2 June each year, the anniversary of the coronation of Elizabeth II. From 2023, the awards will be announced on 14 November, Charles III's birthday.
Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by reducing pain and suffering. Hospice care provides an alternative to therapies focused on life-prolonging measures that may be arduous, likely to cause more symptoms, or are not aligned with a person's goals.
Children's Hospice South West (CHSW) is a registered charity that provides palliative, respite, end of life and bereavement care for life-limited and terminally ill children and their families from the South West England region. It oversees three of the 41 children's hospices in the United Kingdom.
Helen & Douglas House is a registered hospice charity based in Oxford, England, providing palliative, respite, end-of-life and bereavement care to life-limited children and their families.
Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) is a registered charity that provides the country's only hospice services for children and young people with life-shortening conditions, and services across children’s homes and hospitals. The first hospice was built thanks to the late editor-in chief of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, Endell Laird, who launched a reader appeal which raised £4million. CHAS offers children’s hospice services, free of charge, to every child, young person and their families who needs and wants them. CHAS was formed in February 1992 by a group of professionals and parents of children with life-shortening conditions who had travelled to England for hospice care. In 2018/19, CHAS supported 465 children with a life-shortening condition, and their siblings, parents and wider families. The care provided is multi-disciplinary, including from doctors, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, play specialists and others. CHAS also employs medical and nursing staff who work in hospitals alongside NHS doctors and nurses.
Penrose Hospital is a 364-bed hospital hospital located in Colorado Springs, Colorado and owned by Penrose-Saint Francis Health Services. The campus includes Penrose Hospital, the Penrose Cancer Center, the E Tower building, the Penrose Pavilion, and John Zay House.
M. R. Rajagopal is an Indian palliative care physician referred to as the 'father of palliative care in India' in honour of his significant contribution to the palliative care scene in India.
Healthcare in Devon was the responsibility of two clinical commissioning groups until July 2022, one covering Northern, Eastern and Western Devon, and one covering South Devon and Torbay. It was announced in November 2018 that the two were to merge.
Together for Short Lives is the UK registered charity for children's palliative care. Together for Short Lives’ vision is for children and young people in the UK with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions and their families to have as fulfilling lives as possible, and the best care at the end of life.
Elizaveta Petrovna Glinka was a Russian humanitarian worker and charity activist. She was honoured three times with state awards for her work. Glinka died in the 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash.
Havens Hospices is a charity (No:1022119) which runs hospice services in Essex. It is intended to support and provide palliative care to babies, children, young adults and adults. Havens Hospices offers community based support to families in Essex and runs two hospice services: Fair Havens Hospice and Little Havens Hospice.
