Dr Matthew Doré is a Palliative Care Consultant in Northern Ireland. He works in Northern Ireland Hospice and the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. Matt  is lead editor of the Oxford Handbook of Palliative Care 2026, Co-chair of the Monthly Clinical ECHO Podcast, Northern Ireland rep council member for the Association of Palliative Medicine  and past chair of the Palliative Care Congress. In this extended episode it is my pleasure to explore with Matt the origins of palliative care and the philosophy behind Advance Care Planning.

This episode has been kindly supported by the Living Well Dying Well Trust. The creation, development and content of the episode remains the responsibility of Clare Fuller.

Key messages

• Matt’s route into palliative care and its patient-centred ethos.

• The origins and philosophy of modern palliative and hospice care.

• Advance Care Planning (ACP) as a broad, evolving process - not a single finished document.

• How people’s preferences can change over time, and why planning needs to account for that.

• ACP’s different components;wishes, treatment refusals, decision-makers, legal matters and legacy.

• When to introduce planning ahead, including using everyday conversations to open the conversation..

• Ethical tensions around autonomy, fixed instructions and the risk of ACP being seen as resource management.

• Differences in the legal options available in Northern Ireland.

• Matt’s own planning, and the idea that planning can help care for the people around you.

Resource

• Access the Oxford Handbook of Palliative Care (2026)

• Access info about the 2027 Palliative Care Congress

• Access info about the Northern Ireland Hospice 

• Find out about Hospice UK

• Access the Hospice UK & Dr Kathryn Mannix Planning Ahead tool launched 

• Find out more about the Greek Philosopher Heraclitus 

• Read more about The Tracey judgment

Bio

Dr Matthew Doré is a Palliative Care Consultant in Northern Ireland. He works in NI Hospice and the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. He is a family man with 2 teenagers and a feral 10 year old and a long-suffering wife. He is the lead editor of the Oxford Handbook of Palliative Care 2026, Co-chair of the Monthly Clinical ECHO Podcast, APM NI rep council member and past chair of the Palliative Care Congress and past APM secretary. He has spoken on the issues of assisted dying in Westminster, Holyrood, Stormont and the Dail and has been in various media as an advocate for palliative care. He is currently the RPMG Chair, the representative body of NI consultants and wants to make NI the best place for end of life care and palliative care in the world.