The hospice movement: History and current worldwide situation

Abstract

The suffering of terminally ill cancer patients underlines the need for good and well organized palliative care. WHO defines the palliative care as the active total care of patients and their families when the patient's disease is no longer responsive to curative treatment. Such a care can be obtained in hospices providing good symptom relief of advanced cancer, and emotional support for both patient and his family. Modern hospice movement started in the United Kingdom in the late sixties of the past century, and spread out all over the world. This paper presents a short history of the hospice movement and current worldwide situation in this field.