The modern Hospice movement began in 1967.

The word 'hospice' is derived from 'the hospitium', that part of the monastery where traditionally help was given to travellers, the sick and the poor in the Middle Ages. The first reference to palliative care (which is similar to hospice care) dates back to Hippocrates and 460 BC. In 1996 palliative care was described as 'a concept where there is a shift of emphasis from conventional care that focuses on quantity of life, towards a commitment to care which enhances the quality of life'.

Hospices provide 80% of the palliative care beds in the UK.

The modern hospice movement began in 1967 with the opening of St Christopher's Hospice by Cicely Saunders. She was inspired by her work as a nurse and then social worker, to meet not only the physical needs of the dying, but also their emotional and spiritual needs. She then trained as a doctor. There are now 231 hospices, including 29 for children and 3 exclusively for people with HIV/AIDS. The first hospice for adolescents was opened by Acorns Children's Hospice Trust in 2000 in Birmingham. Independent hospices provide 80% of the palliative care beds in the UK, but most of their income derives from charitable donations and legacies. No charge is made for hospice care.Around 96% of adults cared for by independent hospices have cancer. Children's hospices help young people with a much broader range of life-limiting illnesses.Hospice care is based upon the belief that death and dying are a natural part of life, and important experiences in people's lives. Hospices believe that the quality of life for people with terminal illnesses should be made as positive as possible.

Hospice care is holistic.

Hospice care is holistic and supports the whole person and family.
Holistic care supports many needs:·

• physical
• emotional
• social
• spiritual
• psychological

so that those facing death and their families can make the most of whatever time is left.

Hospices employ a range of specialist staff, but also rely heavily on the goodwill and hard work of volunteers. On average each hospice has three times the number of volunteers as employed personnel. Many hospices have education and training departments that keep staff and volunteers up to date with information and professional development. Some hospices also provide training and support for professionals in other care services.

Hospice care offers a range of services.

Hospice care offers a range of services:

• pain control
• symptom control
• nursing care
• counselling
• complementary therapies, e.g. aromatherapy
• spiritual care
• physiotherapy
• creative workshops, e.g. painting and making music
• beauty treatments
• pre- and post-bereavement support
• respite care (particularly for parents of children with life-threatening illnesses
• therapy, e.g. art and drama

Hospices also provide information, for example about benefits and welfare entitlements to patients and their families.

Hospices are not just buildings with beds.

This care may be provided in hospices, at home, in hospitals or in nursing homes. Wherever the location, ensuring patients retain the power of individual choice regarding the nature of the care and preserving their dignity, are paramount. Hospices do not simply care for people in the last stages of terminal illnesses, they specialise in helping people live with and cope with illness and death - to the end, if that is the case (but it isn't always so).

Hospices are not just buildings with beds, but are about a way of caring.

Your local hospice may be able to help you with further information about what services it provides and even offer a speaker.

The modern hospice movement started in 1967 with the founding of St Christopher's Hospice.

The Irish Sisters of Charity established Our Lady's Hospice in Dublin in the late 19th century and later founded St Joseph's Hospice in London as places for the care of the dying. The modern hospice movement started in 1967 with the founding of St Christopher's Hospice in southeast London by Dame Cicely Saunders. She is regarded as the person who really developed the modern hospice movement.Cicely Saunders was born in 1918 and after leaving school, she trained as a nurse. However a back problem meant she had to stop nursing. She then trained as a social worker and in the course of doing this work in a hospital she became aware of the psychological and spiritual needs of dying people who she sensed often felt very isolated and alone.

Cicely Saunders thought there were two particular reasons for this. Firstly, doctors and nurses were trained to cur people and many of them saw death as failure - so communicating with dying people was seen as difficult.

Help patients to come to terms with the life they had lived.

Secondly, dying people who were close to death and who recognised this, often had a great need to look back on life and reflect on both their failures and successes. They wanted someone who would listen to their thoughts, encourage them to express them and help them to come to terms with the life they had lived. Cicely Saunders did just this. She also became interested in the medical treatment for cancer - in particular, pain control - and was told the best way to investigate this was to become a doctor herself. So, in her mid-thirties, she started medical training and qualified as a doctor in 1957.

St Christopher's Hospice was founded as a charity in 1961.

Patients with cancer often suffered pain and they were given strong drugs, called opiates, which can easily cause addiction in healthy people. Medical personnel were afraid to give too many of these drugs to patients because of the fear of addiction, and people had to 'prove' they were in severe pain before they were given the drugs. However, Cicely Saunders did research which showed that addiction was not a risk when opiates were being used to lessen pain. She demonstrated that they could be given on a regular basis to patients, provided they were used only for the purpose of pain control. This was a revolutionary change in the way these drugs were given to patients, who could then live more fully because the pain was not constantly at the forefront of their minds.

The first patient was admitted in 1967.

During her time as a social worker, Cicely Saunders had a patient called David Tasma, and she told him about her dream of having a special place where she would be able to care for dying people. He left her £500 in his will - the first donation towards St Christopher's Hospice. The window in the reception area of the hospice is dedicated to David Tasma. He had felt that life had little meaning, but the window is a testament to a life which, through a generous donation, has contributed to a world-wide movement dedicated to helping people nearing the end of their lives.

A hospice is really the organisation rather than the building.

Armed with the first £500 and her conviction that a hospice needed to be built, Cicely Saunders drew around her a group of like-minded friends and colleagues who had similar views on helping people with advanced illness. These people also did a huge amount of fundraising. St Christopher's Hospice was founded as a charity in 1961. Building started a short time later and the first patient was admitted in 1967.

Within two years of the first patient being admitted to St Christopher's, a home-care service was set up. This was just one of a number of different types of hospice care that has gradually developed over the years. Hospice care is provided in many places other than in purpose-built hospice units. People from the hospice provide specialist care for patients who are in hospital and in their own homes, so a hospice is really the organisation rather than the building in which the organisation is housed.

The hospice movement has had a profound effect on the care given to dying people and their relatives.

The hospice movement has had a profound effect on the care given to dying people and their relatives. Its influence has spread across the world with hospice care facilities in many countries throughout the world. The World Health Organisation has encouraged the development of hospice care in developing countries, although there is still much more development possible, even in terms of getting the strong opiate drugs accepted as a medical treatment. They are not approved as a method of pain control in some countries that have strict drug laws.