Hidden Hospice Work Understanding Clinical and Non-Clinical Work in Hospices

Research Team

• Dr Natalie Richardson (ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow)

Project Summary

Background and Project Aims

Hospice staff provide care and support to people reaching the end of life, as well as to their families and loved ones. We know that such care is pivotal in relieving physical symptoms, emotional pain, and distress. As such, those working in hospices are intimately involved, in moments of crisis or prolonged periods, in the illness, pain, and suffering of patients reaching the end of life, as well as their loved ones. As such, hospice staff are sometimes exposed to physical and emotional suffering, as well as death, in their everyday work. This fellowship adds to understandings about how hospice workers cope, their emotional work, the types of emotions they feel, and how they experience relationships with patients and families. 

This Fellowship draws on findings from an ESRC funded PhD study ‘Suffering in Relation: An Ethnographic Study of Hospice Work’ (completed in April 2021 at the University of Sheffield). This was an ethnographic study of hospice work, utilising observations and interviews with staff. The findings place the experiences and accounts of those providing end-of-life care at the centre. Importantly, the findings seek to extend our understanding about who provides care at the end of life, by exploring the work of both clinical and non-clinical hospice staff. The experience of the non-clinical hospice workforce is currently marginalised, within academic and public understanding. However, the findings demonstrated the significance of subtle and everyday interactions (such as, the preparation of food and final meals and the conversations between housekeepers and patients as they go about their cleaning rounds), which are laced with intimacy and care. 

Through presentations, publications, and the development of a short informational video this fellowship will begin to address this gap in understanding about hospice work and widen our understandings around care. Consultation workshops with hospice staff and engagement with national bodies, such as Hospice UK also begin to establish a research agenda around the support and training needs of non-clinical staff working in hospices.  

Watch the short video on ‘Hidden Hospice Work’ below. This has been developed through the findings from the PhD, as well as consultation work with hospice staff during the fellowship:

(Embed video.)

Further information

For more information, or to take part in the project, please contact Natalie Richardson (natalie.richardson@york.ac.uk).