Dying Well

What matters to people with terminal illness and how can society support their wellbeing as long as possible? The evidence about what matters spreads across academia, policy and practice.

Through the Dying Well project, we brought people from across these fields together to share their learnings, and identify where the evidence gaps are when it comes to living with a terminal illness and wellbeing.

Why is this important?

With a wellbeing lens on policy, some things would be different. As with mental health, end of life care and how the experience of pain is approached are not adequately addressed by current metrics and approaches. This project aims to identify where research and practice need to go next.

About the Dying Well project

This initial work on Dying Well was a collaborative programme conducted in partnership with Clair Fisher, a long-time collaborator of the Centre. Clair sadly passed away in January 2022 having lived with a terminal illness since 2018, during which time she was a passionate and influential advocate for improving wellbeing in palliative care.

In Clair’s words: “Dying Well was my retirement project. A space for me to document my personal journey, to explore the evidence around wellbeing in terminal illness and test out some of the theories.”

The project explored:

• Making the case for putting wellbeing at the heart of palliative and end of life care and services, especially in Advance Care Planning conversations.
• Providing a space for practitioners to share their experience and insights of putting wellbeing the heart of hospice and palliative care.
• Showcasing research that can help policy makers and practitioners design better, wellbeing-focused services.
• Bringing together a collaborative network of interested practitioners, policy-makers and researchers to share learning and ideas.

Explore the materials from the Dying Well work below