ABSTRACT
About the late 1950s public indifference to much unnecessary suffering in terminal illness began to be replaced by a growing motivation to give better care to those with but a short time to live. The renaissance of home care merits reviewing because it gives insights into many issues concerning death and dying. Before this century the sick and helpless, including the dying, were normally cared for at home by other members of the household; the family doctor attended and so might nurses of varying skill and reputation. In the 1950s the earliest surveys of what did happen to people dying at home were published. Care at home was an obvious option, but without changes it often did not meet people's needs. Clearly many threads of information and the motivation to improve home care were converging, but it was the modern hospice movement which provided the major impetus in weaving them together.
