By Kirstine Bøndergaard, MD, PhD Student
Palliative Care Research Aarhus, Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark
ORCID-iD: 0009-0009-7877-5934
LinkedIn: Kirstine Boendergaard
Follow: CASEMED DENMARK
CASEMED Publications: https://casemed.webnode.dk/
From April through mid-May 2025, I spent six weeks on a research stay in Cardiff, Wales, as part of my PhD project on palliative care for patients living with severe mental illness.
I decided to write a short reflection on the stay for BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care Forum. The big question now is: what stands out in my memory, now that my time in Wales has ended and routine life has resumed at the Department of Oncology and Palliative Care Research Aarhus at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark?
I’m an early-career Danish doctor who has been working full-time as a PhD student since May 2023. My project is part of a national research initiative in Denmark—CASEMED (Cancer patients with SEvere MEntal Disorders). The initiative is led by Professor in Palliative Medicine, Mette Asbjoern Neergaard, who also supervises my PhD.
Our CASEMED research group has been in contact for some time with two of the professors behind the Welsh MENLOC study—Michael Coffey and Ben Hannigan. The MENLOC study was published in 2021 and is a synthesis of knowledge on palliative care for patients with severe mental illness. I’m incredibly grateful to Professor Ben Hannigan for inviting me to visit him at Cardiff University, and if you read this Ben, thank you again. Ben and I had many enriching and insightful conversations throughout my stay. I had an office space at Ty’r Wyddfa, Heath Campus, Cardiff. The stay was a formal requirement of my PhD programme at Aarhus University, designed to expose students to different research environments.
I also had the chance to visit Professor Michael Coffey at Swansea University—a truly interesting meeting where we explored our shared interest in mental disorders and palliative care research. Additionally, I had a fantastic meeting with Senior Research Fellow Sally-Anne Francis and a team of researchers at the Marie Curie Palliative Care research institution in London.
After completing my PhD, I look forward to going back to clinical practice, though I haven’t yet decided on a specific field. I have a deep passion for clinical work and have continued to take shifts in psychiatry during my PhD. During my stay in Wales I had a clinical observership at Velindre Cancer Centre with Professor Mark Taubert and his colleagues. Mark kindly showed me around the centre and allowed me to observe how he and his team worked clinically during two full days. I attended several ward rounds and saw a number of palliative care patients under the care of Mark’s team.
It’s always fascinating to see how palliative care is practiced across inpatient units, patients’ homes, and hospices. During clinical assessments I was particularly struck by a feeling I’ve often had during similar encounters in Denmark. The staff are extraordinary. They approach each patient with such empathy and engagement, tuning into that individual’s unique needs and wishes. Amidst all the practical tasks, they also make space for the patient’s thoughts and concerns, creating a setting where everything, big or small, can be talked about. Wales has a ‘What matters most’ (to the patient) approach which is enshrined in a lot of education, teaching and clinical practice. Some of my research indicates that patients with severe mental health disorders want exactly this approach – health care professionals creating a room for open conversations about fears and wishes for their end of life, but also what it means to them to live with a severe mental disorder.
I find it especially tough to witness young people in the terminal stages of life. I feel that there’s an undeniable sense of injustice and meaninglessness that arises. I can’t say I leave days like that feeling uplifted. And yet, something about this field keeps drawing me in. At its core, palliative medicine is about seeing the person in front of you and making room for what matters most in the moment—being able to hold both joy and sorrow simultaneously alongside our patients. That kind of wholehearted approach from healthcare professionals was something I experienced during my time at Velindre, and I take it with me as a lasting memory. Even though our hospitals may look different on the outside, we speak different languages, and we may have different ways of working, there is something universal and shared in the essence of palliative care.
Right after my stay in Cardiff, I went on to travel to attend the EAPC 2025 Congress in Helsinki, where I had the chance to present a part of my research in a themed session alongside three other researchers focusing on severe mental illnesses and palliative care, professor Mette Asbjoern Neergaard, associate professor Sarah Yardley, Marie Curie Palliative Care research institution, London, and PhD-student Amber Browne, Swansea University. It was a huge opportunity and an incredible experience for me as a young academic—to stand on a big stage and speak about a topic I find so important and compelling: palliative care for this often-overlooked group of patients with severe mental illness, who are rarely represented in research but may have highly complex palliative needs.
Thank you for reading about my time in Wales—a beautiful country I won’t soon forget. I should also mention, I was lucky to enjoy six weeks of unusually sunny spring weather and warm and welcoming people.
Declaration of interests
I have read and understood the BMJ Group policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: none.