During the day’s first plenary session, entitled ‘Moving stories to provoke and challenge’, chair Dr Ros Taylor, Hospice UK’s national director for hospice care, shared three short films. Taylor then led a discussion with by the panel – Maria McGill (CEO of Children’s Hospice Association Scotland), Dr Jane Collins (CEO of Marie Curie) and Jamie Johnstone (who runs a film forum at the Hospice of St Francis) – and the audience.
The first film was a short clip from Seven Songs for a Long Life which showed a young mother with a terminal condition making a memory box for her family.
This led to a discussion around pre-bereavement support, the benefit of which is obvious to those working in the sector. However, Collins made the point that we should do more to collect evidence which demonstrates the benefits of pre-bereavement support in creating resilience.
Johnstone also suggested that films of everyday family interactions are also very beneficial to those who lose a loved one and are relatively cheap to make these days.
The second film was from Life Before Death and presented an international call for better access to pain relief.
Taylor asked whether, as the country at the top of the Quality of Death index, we have a responsibility to do more to improve palliative and end of life care internationally.
Collins said that she was ashamed of the fact that Marie Curie does not advocate those in other countries. She suggested that UK charities could help influence government spending to help improve services abroad and share our knowledge and skills with those working in other countries.
McGill added that we should work with those in other countries to identify what would make a difference to them. She commented on how many services in poorer countries are able to offer a great service with very little money, and that we could learn from them.
She also highlighted that there is much untreated pain in children, and that there is a reluctance to use opioids with children – both in this country and internationally.
Several members of the audience spoke up to give examples of how they are working with hospices and other charities in other countries, through twinning, visits and other activities.
The third film was made by an American medical centre, Cleveland Clinic, and asks: if you could stand in someone else’s shoes, would you treat them differently? This led to a discussion about the importance of empathy and whether empathy is something which can be taught.
Reflection and innovation
At lunch I caught up with sculpture artist Claudia Ashley-Brown as I admired her Ramryge Angels on display outside the main auditorium. The six perspex angels represent the five stages of bereavement: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, plus a final stage of peace.
Claudia told me that the angels on display are actually the second set she has made – the first set were so popular with visitors to St Albans Abbey that they were purchased by the Friends of St Albans Abbey and are now on permanent display there. The second set of angels have been on tour, travelling around the country visiting other cathedrals and chapels.
Claudia also told me how a set of postcards with photos of the angels are also popular with bereavement professionals as a way for patients to help identify how they are feeling without the use of words.
Today I also found time to explore some of the 202 posters on display. These presented an inspiring picture of the innovative and interesting work taking place at hospices around the country.
The posters highlighted work that hospices are doing to provide new services, carry out research to improve care and make better use of data. They covered everything from community engagement and service development to projects on education and management.
Many of the posters are available to view via the conference app and will be available on Hospice UK’s website shortly.
Death anxiety
The sixth and final plenary of the conference was given by Sheldon Solomon, a professor of psychology and author of ‘The worm at the core’, a book which explores how an awareness of death influences human behaviour.
Professor Solomon discussed death anxiety and how, as humans, we are aware of our existence but this means we are also aware that we will one day die.
He explained how we have a need to perceive that life has meaning and that we have value in order to counter the “death anxiety” which comes from knowing that we will die and that the time and manner of our death is out of our control.
Solomon outlined various experiments which have shown how people behave differently when they are reminded of their own mortality – such as an increased hatred for people who are “different” or an increased desire for material possessions.
However, while Solomon suggested that death anxiety “brings out the worst in us”, he was not advocating that it is a subject we should ignore.
He praised those involved in palliative and end of life care – “the vanguard of medicine and humanity” – for helping people who are facing death to maintain a sense of meaning and value – accepting life without denying death.
He explained that, by treating patients with respect and “unconditional positive regard” hospice and palliative care professionals help people to feel an increased sense of individual dignity.
Solomon ended his plenary by thanking those in the auditorium for the work they do.
Close
The conference was brought to a close by Taylor, who thanked all those involved in making the conference a success and said she hoped that everyone was leaving the conference with new ideas.
As music has been a strong theme throughout the conference, it seemed fitting to end on a song. Taylor’s choice of song for this moment was ‘Dance me to the end of love’ by Leonard Cohen.
Presentations from the conference can be downloaded from the Hospice UK website and videos of the plenary sessions will also be available from next week.
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