Lancaster palliative care expert launches new Sue Ryder Care research centre

David Clark, Professor of Medical Sociology at the University of Lancaster and Director of the International Observatory on End of Life Care.

A Lancaster University professor has launched a pioneering centre that will improve the care of terminally ill patients and people living with serious long-term medical conditions.

Professor David Clark, Professor of Medical Sociology at the University of Lancaster and Director of the International Observatory on End of Life Care, launched the new centre at The University of Nottingham on January 31.

Professor Clark, who is one of the country’s leading experts in palliative care, also presented a lecture on the subject of End of Life as a Global Issue.

Following the launch of the new facility he said: “It is a delight to be present at the launch of this new centre. One million people die in the world every week and how we improve the care of those people and those close to them is becoming a pressing public health issue. The new centre will make a huge contribution to research and teaching in the field and I look forward to close collaboration between it and the International Observatory at Lancaster.”

The Sue Ryder Care Centre for Palliative and End of Life Studies, based within the University of Nottingham’s School of Nursing, will carry out detailed research, including the experiences of both patients and carers, to find out how services can be improved at a national level. The centre will also design and deliver a new Master’s degree in palliative and end of life care.

The initiative has been developed in partnership with Sue Ryder Care and staff at the new centre will work directly with Sue Ryder Care’s palliative and neurological care centres across the country, as well as with other palliative care providers and researchers in the UK and abroad.

The emphasis will be on providing practical solutions that will make a real difference to patient’s lives and will help improve the quality of life for people living with long-term conditions. One of the first tasks will be to examine ways of extending palliative and end of life care approaches in neurological care.