History of the Hospice movement

Links with the past

Connections between the past and the present contain a powerful symbolic message. They suggest that modern hospices are rooted in deep and ancient traditions of compassionate care that go back to earliest civilizations.

It is unwise, however, to draw too close a parallel between places that were called hospices in early times and today's hospices. The former contained a broad spread of the diseased, the poor and the downtrodden, cared for over long periods. The latter have tended to focus on the relatively short-term care of those close to the end of life and especially those dying from cancer.

Modern history

We should look instead to the nineteenth and twentieth century for the roots of the modern hospice movement. In particular, our history of hospices looks at: 

• the nineteenth century

• the twentieth century

• the work of Cicely Saunders

• hospice care in other countries

• the end of the beginning.

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to Professor David Clark of the International Observatory on End of Life Care, Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University, for his help with this history of hospices.

Further information

For more information on hospice history visit the International Observatory on End of Life Care website at www.eolc-observatory.net