Researchers at Cicely Saunders International are continuing to promote You Matter Because You Are You, a seven-point Palliative Care Action Plan that identifies the major challenges now facing the palliative care system, and outlines evidence-based solutions for each of them.

Cicely Saunders International was established in 2002 by Dame Cicely Saunders, a founder trustee and its President. Dame Cicely is widely acknowledged as the founder of the modern hospice movement and is credited with “mentoring some of the great world leaders in this field” (Professor Eduardo Bruera). Our mission is to promote research to improve the care and treatment of all patients with progressive illness and to make high-quality palliative care available to everyone who needs it – be it in hospice, hospital or home. There is no other charity specifically concerned with carrying out work to identify and promote best practice in palliative care.

Strategy

Cicely Saunders International pursues its mission by:

  • Supporting world-class research in effective, person-centred and spiritually sympathetic forms of palliative care, and developing relevant and robust methods to set an international gold standard of palliative care research.
  • Supporting the investigation and promotion of high-quality care for patients with cancer and non-cancer progressive illnesses, and from sections of society which miss out on the best in palliative care.
  • Supporting the finest postgraduate and undergraduate education for doctors, nurses and other professionals in the field.
  • Constantly promoting public understanding of palliative care and the available treatments and services, and contributing to the development of policy, nationally and internationally, to improve care towards the end of life.