Care for the dying

Professor David Clark's new book celebrates the life of Cicely Saunders, founder of the modern hospice

movement.

Speaking at the Hay Festival, Clark, a professor at the University of Glasgow, traced the development of Cicely Saunders’ rise to

prominence in the medical world from her beginnings as a nurse during World War Two to the

establishment of St. Christopher’s – the “new English hospice” – in July 1967.

Clark’s  book, Cicely Saunders: A Life and Legacy, released 100 years after her birth, was collated from a series of interviews

conducted between 1995 and 2005 with Saunders and those who knew her.

He said that, while a biography of Saunders had already been published in 1985, he felt that there

was “a lot more to be said about the nature of her work and its wider impact”, particularly with

regards to her later years.

A student at Oxford who came from an affluent North London background, working in hospices

during the Second World War exposed Saunders to suffering, death and bereavement.

After this she decided to focus her efforts on caring for the dying in hospices

around London, training as a medical social worker in the late 1940s. Saunders

then trained to become a doctor at St Thomas’s hospice, which gave her the opportunity to devote her

life to terminal care and lay the groundwork for the establishment of her own medical institution.

Clark spoke of the strong faith embedded in Saunders’ work with patients throughout her life,

describing her as becoming “more absorbed with religion and faith” after finding evangelical

Christianity. This helped form Saunders’ philosophy on care, which centred on tending to the dying

and their families, and regarding pain as more than just a physical problem. He echoed Saunders’

assertion that “total pain needs total control”.

If you missed this, you may enjoy Event 444 Caroline Elton and Christie Watson,  at 5.30pm, Sunday 3 

June.