Chesterfield hospice launches second series of popular podcast exploring death and grief

The Chesterfield hospice’s Life and Death Podcast prides itself on exploring ‘frank and honest’ conversations surrounding death and what ‘dying well’ really means.

In each episode, both people administering end-of-life care and those receiving it are invited to discuss their experiences about hospice life, unique relationships and how death affects the living.

Over the coming weeks, the weekly episodes will bring together Ashgate’s senior physiotherapist Stephen Rumford and patients and professionals to discuss the concept of death and what the term ‘dying’ means to them.

The charity launched the second series of the podcast during Dying Matters Awareness Week from May 10 to May 16 – which was a national campaign aimed at encouraging people to talk more openly about death and the importance of planning for the end of life.

In the new series, a musician and songwriter whose music and lyrics focuses on the different aspects of death, dying and bereavement will share their experiences along with frontline workers from Ashgate’s inpatient unit who will highlight the challenges they faced while working throughout the pandemic.

Host Stephen Rumford said: “It has been such a great pleasure to record series two of Ashgate's The Life and Death Podcast.

“I’ve had the pleasure of chatting to a musician whose band took the theme of death to make an album of beautiful music reflective of that journey, an author whose deep experience of death and dying has made her an internationally authority on the subject, a patient with a particular relationship to his own sense of mortality and much more.

“I hope the second series will reveal something of the rich and fascinating diversity of reflections and experiences that death and dying seems to have for us human beings.”

The first episode featured Kathryn Mannix, a consultant in palliative care and author, who discussed the journey of dying and what death ‘actually looks’ like.

While terminally ill patient David Lawton, took part in the second episode, sharing his experience of dying and being ‘brought back to life’.

Series one and two of the podcast are available to stream on all platforms by searching for ‘The Life and Death Podcast Ashgate Hospicecare’.

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