Palliative care consultant Kate Davie on her new role at the Hospice of the Good Shepherd
Kate Davie has joined the hospice team as our Palliative Care consultant. She clearly recalls the day she decided to dedicate her medical career to providing end-of-life care.
Determined from the age of six to follow a career in medicine, she had her sights on becoming a surgeon until her medical training programme brought her into contact with the palliative care team at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Denbighshire.
“I’d only been qualified as a doctor for two months before spending time with the team and learning how they cared for end-of-life patients,” Kate explained.
“As doctors we obviously want to cure people. Although I couldn’t do that for a dying patient I realised that I could still make a big difference to their well-being by dealing with their symptoms.
“It felt like such a privilege to be allowed into their lives, to gain their trust and that of their families, and to be able to give them my time. I soon realised that I wanted to make this my career.”
Kate acknowledges that her work can be emotionally challenging. “The fact is that we can only die once and to be able to make things better for people in those circumstances is so important for everyone involved, and so rewarding.”
She went on to undertake further specialist training and decided to pursue a Masters degree in palliative medicine. She was made a consultant in 2020.
“I have had such a warm welcome from the clinical team and everyone else at the hospice,” said Kate.
She hopes that there will be opportunities for the hospice, hospitals and the community to work together more closely. “It is so important for the future sustainability of the hospice that we become the hospice our community wants and needs us to be, providing the range of services they want us to deliver.
“That will hopefully involve us creating more bed spaces so that we can support more patients, and developing opportunities to offer respite care and a range of ‘hospice at home’ services,” she added.