Professor David Clark was given the high-profile honour of addressing the annual conference of the Spanish Association of Palliative Care at its meeting in Palma, Majorca on 13 May.

At a meeting entirely devoted to the challenging question of spiritual care at the end of life, Professor Clark’s closing plenary lecture focused on the contribution made by the late Dame Cicely Saunders to the dignified care of dying people.

Professor Clark talked about the life and work of Dr Saunders, who died in 2005, as a source of continuing inspiration for palliative care around the world.  The lecture outlined how the acknowledged founder of the modern hospice movement saw spiritual care as equally important to medical and nursing issues.Prof David Clark 

Over 700 palliative care specialists attended the conference, which was also marked by the publication of a Spanish edition of a collection of Dr Saunders’ writings, which was first edited by Professor Clark in 2003, and is entitled Watch with Me.

Professor Clark said: ‘This was a great honour for me and a tribute to the continuing interest in the work of Cicely Saunders. Her teachings show that concern for spiritual concerns at the end of life is a key part of palliative care. The conference explored how this can be done in a multi-cultural society and in the context of the public health system’.

Professor David Clark is the Director of the University’s Dumfries Campus; he is also Head of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Chair of Medical Sociology. He founded the International Observatory on End of Life Care at Lancaster University in 2003 and is a former board member of the European Association for Palliative Care and of Help the Hospices. He is an active member of the EAPC Task Force on the Development of Palliative Care in Europe and has wide ranging interests in the history and global development of palliative care.

First published: 6 June 2011

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