NIHR James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnerships (rolling call)

Palliative and end of life care – additional research priorities

In 2025, a refresh of the JLA Palliative and End of Life Care Priority Setting Partnership was led by Marie Curie to update the research priorities of carers, patients and health and social care professionals. The top priority around improving care for people with dementia was highlighted in a previous JLA rolling funding opportunity and remains a continuing area of research interest to the NIHR. For this funding opportunity, 4 additional priorities identified through the refresh are of interest. These are how palliative and end of life care can:

• enable people to die well at home; what helps or hinders the delivery of care at home and what skills do staff (priority 3) and carers (priority 7) need
• better meet the needs of people with multiple health conditions (priority 5), and
• better meet the needs of people who live alone or are socially isolated (priority 10)

Suggested areas of interest related to these priorities include, but are not limited to, the evaluation of interventions to:

• deliver high quality, equitable and integrated community support including hospice at home provisions
• upskill health and social care staff to address gaps in knowledge within and between services
• evaluate the impacts of upskilling informal carers
• develop care pathways that integrate palliative and end of life care to better support the changing and growing needs of an increased number of people receiving care
• reduce inequities in care and access to care and support services
• improve access to healthcare records and information for individuals in different settings and health and care staff across services
• manage polypharmacy in those with multiple conditions
• evaluate and mitigate the physical, cognitive and emotional impacts of isolation on individuals and their carers
• improve access to appropriate medication at all times in the community