The term ‘hospice’ was first used from the fourth century, when Christian orders welcomed travellers, the
sick and those in many kinds of need. In 1842 the term was first applied to the care of dying patients in France. Later, in
1879, the Irish Sisters of Charity opened a hospice in Dublin; this was followed in the late 1800s by the opening of two hospices
in London.
These hospices provided the inspiration for the founding of St Christopher’s Hospice in 1967 by Dame Cicely Saunders.
This provided the catalyst for the modern hospice movement, with its emphasis on teaching and research as well as patient
care.
