Crisis of care

Thu 11 Feb 2016, 18:00 - 20:00

Venue
The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH

What is it to care for another human being? What responsibilities do we have to care for others - and when? Caring is now a central part of modern life. The 2011 census revealed there are around six million people providing unpaid care for an ill, frail or disabled family member or friend. At the same time, caring for children and the elderly is increasingly professionalised and commercialised. After a series of scandals in the NHS there are concerns about how to teach medical staff to care, how does one train people to be compassionate?


Author Madeleine Bunting presents a series of five essays for BBC Radio 3 addressing this crisis in our understanding of what it means to care. She explores hospitals, nursing homes, nurseries and hospices. She asks: have we forgotten how to care? What is it about care - the patience and the attentiveness required - that now makes it so counter-cultural?


Crisis of Care was recorded in front of a live audience at the British Academy and was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in The Essay, Crisis of Care, 14-18 March 2016 at 10.45pm. 


Speaker:


Madeleine Bunting, Journalist and author


Chaired by Professor Rana Mitter FBA, University of Oxford


In partnership with:


BBC Radio 3


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