History of palliative care in Greater Poland. Part I. Two dimensions of Poznań palliative care

The beginnings of hospice palliative care are usually placed in the seventies and eighties of last century. The development of palliative care was the answer to the lack of care for incurable patients of that time. The incurables were identified as patients with special needs as regards to treatment and care about the end of the XIX century. Quite a number of houses specialized in care of incurable patients were established at that time. They were run usually by nuns, providing also home care for the ill. This system of care was destroyed during german rules in Poland in the times of second world war and in the fifties during communist times.

Poznań was the third center after Kraków and Gdańsk where hospice movement was established. However it was in Poznań where two separate centers started almost at the same time. From this time on this two dimensional hospice care have existed in Poznań. It was also here where the first palliative care ward in Poland was establishes as well as the first Palliative Medicine Chair in medical university. This center founded by professor Jacek Luczak has gained the status of the leading educational and scientific center. Its educational and social activities were the inspiration for development of many new hospices in Poland.