Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2009 | Page 87

FASHION, HEALTH & BEAUTY

life

Dr Ian Cairns –
Consultant in Palliative
Medicine (IOW)
Palliative medicine, or ‘End of Life Care’ as it

dissertation was on the topic of hope in the

is also called, is an area of medicine which is

dying patient.

on the increase and our approach to it is being

“This job encompasses the whole Island,

totally revamped by the NHS. On the Island this

which is brilliant,” said Dr Cairns. “The great

task falls on the shoulders of the softly spoken

thing here is the co-ordination - perhaps

ex GP Dr Ian Cairns who is the Island’s only

because it’s an Island. Macmillan nurses,

consultant in Palliative Medicine.

hospice at home and the hospital palliative care

The increase in palliative care is because the

team are all co-ordinated from the Hospice,”

children of the post war baby boom are now

he explained. “The strategy they’re (the

reaching the end of their lives, although many

government) talking about is co-ordination of

may live for up to 40 more years. Interestingly

care and single point of access – something I

the Island’s demography is as the UK will be in

would particularly like to see. “

40 years time, partly because we have a large

“This is the first time that the NHS have

retirement population. “We’re a flagship,”

organised a strategy for end of life care and I

explained Dr Cairns. Annually around 1,700

think this is a good thing because it’s changing

deaths occur on the Island and about half of

the emphasis and improving the quality of

them are at St Mary’s Hospital.

care for someone who might be dying,” he

“Although I don’t wish to appear strident, I

explained. “It doesn’t matter where you are

do feel that the vulnerable and dying patient

or what disease you have. Wherever you are

has been ignored,” said Dr Cairns in his gentle

you get the same standard be it in a care home

Scottish lilt. “The patients are so vulnerable and

in Ryde, a nursing home in Freshwater, the

their attraction to life is massive. If you want to

hospital or hospice or in your own home.”

hear about hope it’s all here,” he said from his

Gently spoken he may be, but one gets the

office in the Hospice. “ Even a patient who has

impression that he is a warrior for his patients’

only a couple of days to live will have hopes –

wellbeing.

the hope for a good death is the ultimate one.”
Born in Zimbabwe in the 1950s (then
Rhodesia), Dr Cairns came to England in 1970
to attend university. Sponsored by the RAF
through his medical degree, he was an RAF
doctor and then became a GP, taking a practice
in rural Cumbria. Giving up general practice,
he completed specialist training to become a
consultant in palliative care in Dundee around
five years ago, and worked in Cheltenham
for two years before coming to the Island in
2006. He has also recently graduated from an
MA in Ethics from Keele University, where his
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