A LEADING light at Kemp Hospice has been seconded to a community development project to try and transform end-of-life care in Wyre Forest.

Alistair Fuller, 43, a community fund-raiser at the hospice since 2007, is working on the compassionate communities project, launched by NHS West Midlands.

The father of two, of Comberton, Kidderminster, explained he had personal experience of the issues involved after his mother was diagnosed with cancer seven years ago, dying a year later, in 2004.

Mr Fuller said: “Over the last 30 years, death has become a real taboo subject. The whole process of death and dying has become very medicalised.

“It is dealt with by healthcare professionals and is not seen as part of the life process. Really, we need to see it a as a natural part of what we all are and what our stories will be.”

He added: “When my mother was diagnosed with cancer, as a family, we found it difficult to deal with and to talk about the issues involved.

“That makes the whole journey of it much more difficult. If we can be more frank and honest with each other we can deal with these situations more positively.”

Mr Fuller said part of the aim of the project was to assess what networks of care and compassion already existed in the community and how people were being supported through the process of death, dying and bereavement.

He added he would be talking to individuals, community groups, faith groups, colleges and social groups to ask them about their experiences of end-of-life care and their willingness to give further support and care to those around them.

He said the project was also looking for ways to raise people’s awareness of those issues and to encourage them to engage in discussion about it.

Mr Fuller said the project was based on the work of ground-breaking Australian sociologist, Allan Kellehear, and connected projects were taking place in Birmingham and Telford.

He explained that all kinds of groups, often in a very informal way, could provide vital support to their members and added he found it “very encouraging” he had found “plenty” of such groups in Wyre Forest.

He said his project would really “kick off” on Thursday, March 18, when Professor Kellehear would be talking during a special conference at Stourport Civic Centre, from 10am to 3.30pm.

The aim is to gather together a wide variety of groups and organisations, as well as healthcare professionals, faith leaders and councillors.

To contact Mr Fuller about the project, call 01562 861217.