Putting the ‘public’ into public health: community engagement in palliative and end of life care

This special issue on public health weaves together two threads introduced in previous editions of Progress in Palliative Care. In 2003, former Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Professor Ian Maddocks outlined a vision for what he called ‘the caring community’. This vision extended beyond ‘the bedside of the dying patient’ to encompass social networks, diversity, responsibility, and participation; it was, according to Maddocks, a vision ‘likely to bring health and healing to all its participants’....