Ros qualified as a doctor at Cambridge University in 1980 and initially worked as a GP. In 1992 she pioneered a palliative care unit in her local hospital in Cumbria and became enthused by the specialty. In 1996, she took on the leadership role at the Hospice of St Francis in Herts, a post she held until 2015. She was then appointed as Clinical Director at Hospice UK, a national umbrella organisation for the hospice movement, advocating for improved access to palliative care in all settings. In January 2020, she took on the medical leadership role to re-open Michael Sobell Hospice in London.
Dr Taylor has over 30 years of experience in palliative care and was awarded an MBE for Services to Hospice Care following a nomination by a patient. She has contributed to the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death on topics such as the ‘will to live’, power and gender issues. She is a Senior Advisor to the Montreal International Congress on Palliative Care and a Trustee of Nightingale Hammerson Care Home in London. She believes that confidence in caring for and talking with the dying needs to be restored in our communities as well as in health care. This has led her to develop a new resource, HPAL, which curates essential palliative information for both informal and professional carers.
