‘Just a Simple Sausage Sandwich’: The Significance of Sensory Care Practices and Hidden Carers in the Hospice

Abstract

The hospice setting has been explored extensively through the perspectives of patients and clinical staff. This article draws on findings from a UK-based ethnographic study of clinical and non-clinical hospice work to illustrate forms of care that attend to the multisensory end-of-life experience. The data highlight the practices within the hospice setting that are overlooked as forms of care and involve inaction, such as being silent with or gently touching a patient. Moreover, the article brings attention to the hidden work of non-clinical staff, such as cooks and housekeepers. In doing so, the article stretches existing understandings of care within such settings to those working on the periphery of caring work in non-clinical roles. It demonstrates the alternative forms of care and modes of caring expression where words are not enough. The analysis demonstrates how relational flows of care between patients, clinical and non-clinical staff shape embodied, sensory and emotional experiences within hospice settings.