The sense of an ending | 17 May 2018

The timing of the Today programme’s series about hospices could not have been more apt, coming as it did so soon after Tessa Jowell’s death was announced with its array of tributes and the poignant interview with her husband and one of her daughters. In themselves such personal testimonies are not always that helpful — everyone’s situation is individual and the actual outcomes necessarily different. But what Jowell’s family said about her last hours and their evident acknowledgment and acceptance of their situation gave a real sense of purpose on Monday to Zoe Conway’s report from the North London Hospice. This was part of the Dying Matters campaign, urging us to think more about death and end-of-life care. We heard not just from doctors and counsellors but also the cleaner at the hospice who has to go into the room where someone has just died to prepare it for the next incumbent.

‘Has working here made you feel differently about dying?’ asked Conway, a question whose directness was unusual given their proximity to death. ‘It’s made me think differently about life,’ Angela replied without hesitation, explaining that she no longer complains about having to cook for her family now that she’s spent time with people who would dearly love to be able to do that again.

But perhaps the most striking comment was made by Joe, who has been volunteering at the hospice since his wife died from cancer 12 years ago. He gives his time to those he meets in the hospice trying to do for them what his wife asked him to do for her in her last days, which might involve something as simple as taking them outside to feel the rain falling. ‘They notice life at a much deeper level than we do,’ he said with a quiet but resolute dignity that will stay with me.