Palliative care: Patients show ‘astonishing courage'

Palliative care doctor and writer, Rachel Clarke, has told BBC News that far from being depressing, her work at a hospice where she cares for patients close to death is often “incredibly uplifting”.

At the end of life people often display “astonishing courage, resilience, strength, determination,” she told BBC Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur.

“There is something about death's proximity… that concentrates the mind. It forces you to think what do I really care about?”

“My time is limited, it's coming to an end. And that's when I think people rise so often to their best selves.”

Dr Clarke's books about the reality of the medical profession have been acclaimed for the unvarnished and thought-provoking picture they give of the reality of working in the NHS.

They have covered topics about training as a junior doctor, caring for people who are dying and the death of her father, and describing what it was like to work on the frontline during the Covid-19 pandemic.