Palliative medicine and the modern hospice movement developed in the UK from the late 1960s onwards. St Christopher’s Hospice, Sydenham, founded by Dame Cicely Saunders, opened in 1967 as the first modern hospice which combined palliative medicine with clinical research and teaching. This Witness Seminar, introduced by Dr William Notcutt and chaired by Sir Kenneth Calman, looks at the subsequent development of the field of palliative medicine and the growth of the specialty.

The discussion addresses the reasons doctors entered palliative medicine, the role of the voluntary sectors, the NHS and the Royal Colleges, the formation of the Association for Palliative Medicine in 1985 and the emergence of palliative medicine as a medical speciality two years later. Academic and professional training and the development of the relationship of palliative medicine with general practice and other medical specialties are also examined.
Contributors include consultants in palliative medicine, oncologists, nurses and sociologists, and others connected with the rapid development of the specialty.

Overy C and Tansey E M. (eds) (2013)
Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine, vol. 45. London: Queen Mary, University of London.

ISBN 978 0 90223 882 4