Primary Palliative Care

The Edinburgh Primary Palliative Care Research Group has shifted the boundaries and the traditional understanding and practice of palliative care. They have done this by establishing new models to extend the reach and nature of end-of-life care. Having developed and tested theoretical understandings of illness trajectories, multimorbidity and care experiences at the end of life, the group have used research findings to advocate for a redesign of services to make palliative care more accessible. Palliative care policies and clinicians internationally are increasingly adopting this framework with its emphasis on provision of services according to need, not diagnosis or prognosis, alongside fostering compassionate communities based on informal support networks.

The group also helped to develop the Supportive & Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT) in collaboration with the University of St. Andrews. The SPICT helps identify people at risk of deteriorating health due to one or multiple advanced conditions for holistic, palliative care needs assessment and care planning. This tool is now used by a community of palliative care colleagues across the globe to promote and improve end of life care. 

More information about the group's research projects can be found on their website.

A list of the group's publications can be found on their website.