The 8th March 2025

This date marks International Women’s Day, an global event created to celebrate the different achievements of different women throughout history. For this occasion we wanted to talk about two important and inspiration women who helped shape care as we know it today.

Dame Cicely Saunders

Dame Cicely Saunders is known as the founder of modern hospice, St Christopher’s. She is also known for her incredible work and research into palliative care. Cicely changed care by incorporating a holistic approach with her medical care. She also saw the patient and their loved ones as a unit and providing emotional support to both. It was the staff from St Christopher’s Hospice that pioneered the world’s first home based hospice service, which was only possible through Cicely’s founding of St Christopher’s Hospice.

Born on 22nd June 1918 in Hertfordshire, Cicely originally trained as a nurse, then social worker and a physician. In 1948 she started working with those who had terminal illnesses. With her extensive work on the subject she lectured, wrote article and books. In 1967 she founded St Christopher’s Hospice. This was the first of its kind to link pain and symptom control, compassionate care and clinical research. St Christopher’s has been a pioneer in the field of palliative care and has had effects worldwide.

Marjory Winsome Warren

Also known as the ‘Mother of Geriatric Medicine’, Dr Marjory Winsome Warren was the co-founder of the British Geriatric Society. Marjory understood that different patients had different needs and took into account a persons social and functional issues, not just medical. She also promoted the independence of her elderly patients.

Marjory was born on October 28th, 1897 in London and was the eldest of five daughters. It was during 1935 when Marjory systematically reviewed the several hundred inmates of the old workhouse wards. It was here she realised there were a mixture of different people with different conditions together in the same ward and wanted to change this. She advocated for the creation of a medical speciality of geriatrics and for education on elderly care.

As a company that provides home care to many elderly service users with different care needs and abilities, we understand that different service users require care packages fitted to their own personal needs. We also heavily understand the importance of emotional support that needs to be provided during palliative care to our service users and their loved ones. Without these incredible women and their work to ensure the best care possible, we would not be able to provide our service users with such compassion and comfort.