Introduction
Our vision: We are working to build a world where death, dying and bereavement are recognised and valued as an integral part of life, and everyone has the opportunity to die and grieve well.

Principles informing this work:

The Realistic Utopia

Networks of care lead support for people dying, caring, and grieving

The social and structural determinants of death, dying, and grieving are tackled

Conversations and stories about everyday death, dying, and grief become common

Dying is understood to be a relational and spiritual process rather than simply a physiological event

Death is recognized as having value
Webinars
Doing death differently
A community workshop for Dying Matters Week 2024 Book your place: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/doing-death-differently-tickets-878619974997 Download the flyer
COCO seminar “The Value of Death” – 19 December 2022
Dr. Libby Sallnow and dr. Afsan Bhadelia join us to talk about the Lancet Commission report on the Value of Death. (Link) Death, dying, and loss are universal human experiences, but the contention of the Lancet Commission is that they have become unfamiliar,...
Swedish Radio [Swedish]
Fascinerande kvinnor och en ny syn på livets slut: Sara Heyman, London
London onsdag,
Jag tycks ha en förmåga att fastna för fascinerande kvinnor i historien som inte fått den uppmärksamhet de förtjänar. Och kvinnorna jag fastnar för verkar ha en gemensam nämnare: de är alla sjuksköterskor.
Den första är, förstås, Florence Nightingale. Hon är förvisso berömd, men trots det inte särskilt känd för allt hon åstadkom.
BBC News Brasil [Portuguese]
Há algo de errado na forma que lidamos com a morte e precisamos fazer alguma coisa para mudar isso.
Essa é a principal conclusão de um relatório produzido pela Lancet Commission on the Value of Death, a Comissão sobre o Valor da Morte da revista científica Lancet, um grupo de especialistas que se reuniu para investigar o que significa morrer nos tempos atuais.
Evidence based nursing Blog
This week’s blog is written by Dr Sarah Russell (@LearnPEOLC), Lead Nurse for Palliative and End of Life Care, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust. Sarah is also a Florence Nightingale Foundation (@FNightingaleF) Alumni Champion. She is also a member of the British Geriatrics Society, End of Life Special Interest Group and Co-author, The Lancet Commission on the Value of Death (#ValueofDeath).
BMJ Blogs
Rapid Response:
Re: The origins, development, and context of the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death
Dear Editor,
Thank you, Richard Smith [1], for providing a beacon for us to see what we should all “want, demand and need” [2] when it comes to death and dying. Let`s hope that it will guide both the BMJ and The Lancet [3] in all their endeavours. The article describes how, because they “wanted to avoid a purely medical view of death and dying,” they “assembled a group of Commissioners including a wide range of people: social scientists, a philosopher, religious leaders, an author, journalists, and health professionals, including an oncologist, nurse, GP, surgeon, public health, and palliative care physicians”. Their central idea was “that death and dying belong to everybody, not just to health professionals and palliative care physicians, a specialty that is sometimes seen as “owning death.””
European Association of Palliative Care
Death, dying, and loss are universal human experiences, but the contention of a new Lancet Commission is that they have become unfamiliar, disconnected, and unbalanced. For the next in our Palliative Care and Public Health blog series, Dr. Libby Sallnow tells us why.
What about death? May 2023
On today’s episode of What About Death!?, Tsultrim speaks with Dr Libby Sallnow, a palliative care consultant and researcher from London in the UK. Dr Sallnow has been a leader in developing social and public health approaches to death, dying and loss for over two decades and she was recently the first author of the Lancet Commission “The Value of Death: Bringing Death Back into Life.” This fascinating commission explores how we understand death in the 21st Century and considers the implications of the various systems that determine how we die. Dr. Sallnow offers insights into how we can develop a “realistic utopia” in relation to dying, death and grief that is hopeful, intentional and actually values dying and death.
Health Foundation October 2022
What to do about dying? – with Richard Smith and Libby Sallnow. We don’t like to think about death. To many, death and dying have no value and are relegated to the margins of our lives.
But about half a million of us in Britain die each year, mostly in our 80s, with half of us dying in our usual place of residence – in our own bed.
With palliative care stretched and family and friends often left unsupported, what could be an enriching and meaningful phase of life can become over-medicalised, transactional and feared.
BBC World Service Health Check February 2022
Bringing death back into life. Experts are calling for a radical change in our approach to death and dying; why pregnant women should get the Covid vaccine; hidden lung damage in long Covid.
Join in
Sign up now to receive regular updates and invitations to relevant events on the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death.
Podcasts
Publications
Blogs
Media
Realistic Utopia
Join in
Our next event is taking place virtually on 11th September. Find out more and book here.