Dr Justin Amery, doctor at Keech Hospice Care, dies

It is with great sadness that we have learnt of the unexpected death of our friend and colleague, Dr Justin Amery. Dr Amery – who was also a well-respected GP in Oxford for 27 years – was a key part of our children’s team at the hospice since joining in 2011. Our families had huge confidence in his expertise, and he was a central part of the care team.

Justin had a particular interest in child health and palliative care and applied his hands-on experience to write ‘A Really Practical Handbook of Children’s Palliative Care’, a work he made freely available online as an e-book for anyone to download. His hope was to improve the provision of Children’s Palliative Care around the world, as he had ‘long dreamed of being able to write something that is freely available to everyone, and which could be just as useful to a doctor in the USA as to a nurse in Bolivia and to a clinical Officer in Uganda’.

Keech Hospice Care’s children’s team, medical team, Clinical Director Elaine Tolliday, and CEO Liz Searle have cherished memories of working with the esteemed doctor.

Elaine said, ‘He demonstrated compassion, love and care for his patients and families, but also his colleagues, whoever they were. He had time for everyone, and we shall miss him deeply. He had so much knowledge, expertise and passion for palliative care’.

Liz added: ‘Dr Justin was an inspiration to many in the palliative care sector and extremely influential internationally. He was a huge source of comfort and support to our patients and their families’.

Our thoughts are with his wife Karen and his family and friends.

We would like to invite colleagues, friends and families to share their memories by contributing to a digital book in remembrance of Dr Justin. We hope that this will bring some comfort in the future. The book can be found here:

http://www.tolbc.com/DrJustinAmery

For further information please contact Megan Cole, Keech Hospice Care on 07767 100419 or megan.cole@keech.org.uk.