Palliative home care

Our research into palliative home care in the field of cancer, supportive and palliative care falls into three strands.

Supporting successful care at home

Our work has demonstrated family carers' importance in enabling patients to remain at home towards end of life. A main research focus is the development, testing and implementation of interventions to support carers through timely carer support needs assessment and by equipping them with the knowledge and practical skills to provide care at home.

Our research also encompasses the provision of community nursing in supporting patients and carers in the home, the constituents of quality community care and how to enhance nurse-patient and inter-professional communication.

Equitable access to palliative care

Our research has shown inequitable access to palliative care on the basis of age (patient and carer), socioeconomic status and professional perceptions.

Further research will consider palliative care access for black and ethnic minorities (BEM) and lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) individuals, and investigate means of improving access for currently disadvantaged groups.

Enabling successful discharge from inpatient care to home

This research considers factors enabling successful discharge home and focuses on how to support family carers during discharge home from acute care.