The continuation of preventive drugs among older patients with advanced cancer is examined in a recent publication in the research journal, Cancer. Dr Stephen Barclay (Department Public Health & Primary Care), collaborated with colleagues from the Karolinska Institute and Newcastle University, finding that the use of preventive drugs in the last year of life is […]
New funds for Cambridge’s centre of expertise in palliative and end of life care research and teaching
Over 500,000 people die each year in England and Wales, and evidence shows that many receive suboptimal care. An anonymous charitable trust has made a substantial donation of £750,000 to the Cambridge Palliative and End of Life Care Group, where researchers are pressing forward with wide ranging discoveries about the experiences of people in the […]
RESEARCH ALERT: The practice of prescribing “Just in Case” drugs for patients nearing the end of life in the community lacks evidence
“Just in Case” anticipatory prescribing – a common practice in community end of life care – lacks adequate evidence, according to a new review of the literature on this topic by researchers from the Primary Care Unit at the University of Cambridge. This research alert is for GPs and healthcare commissioners. Our Palliative and End […]
Health research project required advice or approval from 89 different people to get the green light, in case study of approvals process
Which health research projects involving humans are ethically justified, safe and legal? Who decides whether they should get the green light to proceed? In one case study, researchers at the Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge, found that eighty nine different people were involved in approving a single small scale health research study for ethics […]
Appropriateness of prescriptions made in advance for patients nearing the end of life remains unknown
The prescription and dispensing of injectable medications to provide end of life symptom relief for patients approaching the end of their lives in the community, in advance of clinical need, is established practice in the UK and other countries. But a new review of the research literature reveals that this widespread practice is based on […]
‘Please Make Comfortable’: prescribing and communicating opioids in the wake of Gosport
The latest crisis concerning UK end-of-life care arose in June 2018, with the publication of the Jones inquiry into hundreds of premature deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in the 1990s. The inquiry concluded that misuse of diamorphine and syringe drivers, often following the clinical instruction ‘please make comfortable’, led to the excess deaths: a […]