Palliative Care

Introduction

The Palliative Care Movement is based mainly on the modern Hospice Philosophy concerning end-of-life care, its main exponent being the St. Christopher Hospice, founded by C. Saunders. She explains (Sanders, 1993) the two key points that form the nucleus of this philosophy:

• ‘the message is: you matter because you are you, and you matter until the last moment of your life. We will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.’
• the concept of Total Pain (including physical, psychological, social and spiritual elements).

The author also lists the elements that St. Christopher's brought together to set up this work: (a) beds integrated in local community; (b) development and monitoring of symptom control; (c) family support; (d) bereavement service; ...