Promises, promises

It is widely accepted that the modern hospice movement was founded 50 years ago with St Christopher's Hospice in 1967. Like any another quinquagenarian may attest, any and/or many years of preceding and persistent neglect can take their toll; limitations and loss of function becoming ever more apparent, alarming and advancing.

Equally, many a person in their fifth decade will remember the manifold and motley promises they have made to themselves: change, improve or abate decline in health and well-being, and how those undertakings have been otherwise undermined, or are underperforming or underwhelming. Similarly, with contemporary health and social care, promises, pledges and plans are consistently promoted, reform is always required; change is, perhaps, the only constant for the sector.

The new Labour government have already outlined how challenging it will be to fund and fix health and social care services that are fit for the future, with the Health Secretary recently suggesting that the NHS is ‘broken’ (UK Parliament, 2024). Echoing such sentiment in September 2024, Lord Darzi reported the findings of his rapid investigation of the state of the NHS, noting that it is in ‘serious trouble’, the health of the nation has ‘deteriorated’, and the UK is an economy and society ‘in distress’.