Intended for healthcare professionals

Obituaries

Kate Granger

BMJ 2016; 354 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i4144 (Published 26 July 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;354:i4144
  1. Adrian O’Dowd
  1. Herne Bay
  1. adrianodowd{at}hotmail.com

Geriatrician and cancer patient who started the #hellomynameis campaign

Promoting compassionate care was vital to Kate Granger, award winning geriatric consultant, who used her experience as a cancer patient to ensure that the NHS kept compassion at its core.

Originally from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, Kate showed an early interest in older people’s care, as shown by her decision to help out at local care home for older people when she was still at school.

Kate trained at the University of Edinburgh, where she graduated with honours in 2005 before returning to Yorkshire to get married to the love of her life, Chris Pointon, and start working—all in the same year.

Her first job after qualifying was at Dewsbury and District Hospital, part of the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. She passed her membership examination for the Royal College of Physicians in 2008, and her work interests included medical education, continence, delirium, palliative care in the acute hospital setting, and the interface between geriatric medicine and surgery.

In 2011, at the age of 29, Kate was diagnosed with a desmoplastic small round cell tumour (DSRCT)—a rare aggressive form of sarcoma—and was given just six months to live. Instead of giving up, she decided to get busy doing as much as possible that would be useful.

#hellomynameis

During a hospital stay in 2013, Kate noticed that many of the staff looking after …

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