Literature Review

[England] £75 Million boost for hospices to transform end-of-life care Gov*UK, Department of Health and Social Care; Press Release, Stephen Kinnock, MP; 7/20/25 Families will see further improvements in end-of-life care as the government releases £75 million for hospices to deliver major upgrades and enhancements to facilities including separate family rooms, solar panels to reduce energy costs and communal lounges. More than 170 hospices across England will receive a share of the funding – the largest cash injection ever – to ensure patients receive the highest quality end-of-life care in comfortable, dignified surroundings. It follows a £25 million boost in February, delivering the government’s £100 million investment confirmed in December. This is already supporting urgent building repairs and creating warmer, homely spaces. This cash marks a further step in the delivery of the government’s Plan for Change, improving care in the community where people need it most. 

[Canada] Electronic decision support for deprescribing in older adults living in long-term care-A stepped-wedge cluster randomized trialJAMA Network Open; Emily G. McDonald, MD, MSc; Justine L. Estey, MSc; Cody Davenport, MSc; Émilie Bortolussi-Courval, RN; Jeffrey Gaudet, MSc; Pierre Philippe Wilson Registe, MSc, MPH; Todd C. Lee, MD, MPH; Carole Goodine, PharmD; 5/25Potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) occurs when medications that carry a higher risk of harm than benefit are prescribed. It occurs more often among older adults in the setting of polypharmacy (taking multiple medications) and is costly and harmful. PIP and potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) contribute to excess adverse drug events, such as falls, fractures, cognitive decline, hospitalization, and death [and] the problem is more pronounced for older adults living in nursing homes (long-term care [LTC] homes). Depending on the screening criteria used, in some studies, the prevalence ranges from 67.8% to 87.7% of nursing home residents. Electronically generated, individualized reports that contained prioritized opportunities for deprescribing in older adults were paired with preexisting quarterly medication reviews [and] this study found that electronic decision support paired with the usual workflow could render the deprescribing process scalable and effective.

[Germany] A Berlin doctor goes on trial, accused of murdering 15 patients who were under palliative care U.S. News & World Report; by Associated Press; 7/14/25 A German doctor went on trial in Berlin Monday, accused of murdering 15 of his patients who were under palliative care. The prosecutor’s office brought charges against the 40-year-old doctor “for 15 counts of murder with premeditated malice and other base motives” before a Berlin state court. The prosecutor’s office is seeking not only a conviction and a finding of “particularly serious” guilt, but also a lifetime ban on practicing medicine and subsequent preventive detention. ... Parallel to the trial, the prosecutor’s office is investigating dozens of other suspected cases in separate proceedings. The man, who has only been identified as Johannes M. in line with Germany privacy rules, is also accused of trying to cover up evidence of the murders by starting fires in the victims' homes. He has been in custody since Aug. 6.

[India] Enhancing palliative care through university-community partnerships: A systematic review of models, impacts, and challengesBMC Palliative Care; Alaka Chandak, Priyadarshini Bhalchandra Kulkarni; 6/25This systematic review highlights the deep potential of university–community partnerships (UCPs) to act as agents of change in palliative care education and service provision. Such collaborations complementarily improve the quality of life of the elderly while availing healthcare students with essential experiential learning opportunities. Exceptional models, such as the CARE program, illustrate the double benefit of improved community welfare and the creation of effective empathetic professionals with the capability to cater to the complex demands of caring.

[Spain] “The good death”: Experience of parents who have suffered the loss of a child in a pediatric intensive care unit. A phenomenological studyJournal of Pediatric Nursing; by Sara Alcón-Nájera, Rosa Blanca Ortiz-Pizarro, Elena Peña-Meléndez, Alberto Sánchez-Gallego, María Teresa González-GilThe ‘good death’ condenses experiences of parents into a constructive interpretation. It is characterised by the fact that it is participated, accompanied and honoured. It requires exquisite holistic care (emotional/social/relational and spiritual). It promotes a family-centered approach and emotional wellbeing of parents. The family's perception of a ‘good death’ is a powerful facilitator of bereavement. The experience of the death of a child in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit must ensure a peaceful, dignified, and respectful death, accompanied and participated in by the family to achieve a “Good Death”. Evidence-based palliative and end-of-life care is essential for developing protocols and resources that ensure excellent support for families and their adaptation to the loss.

[United Kingdom] King's College London: Half of UK adults worried about painful death King's College London; 6/24/25 Almost half (47%) of UK adults are worried that they or their loved ones will have a painful or undignified death, according to a survey commissioned by King’s College London. The survey conducted by Focaldata explores public attitudes to death and dying and finds that almost half (44%) of respondents also feel worried about the quality of palliative and end-of-life care in the UK. Previous research indicates that up to 90% of people in the UK will require palliative care before they die. ... 40% of respondents said they did not know how to access palliative care in their area, and almost one third said they did not know enough about the healthcare system to find the support that a dying person needs. 

[Korea] Alzheimer Disease in Breast Cancer survivorsJAMA Network; by Su-Min Jeong, Wonyoung Jung, Hyeonjin Cho, Hea Lim Choi, Keun Hye Jeon, Ki-Woong Nam, Yun-Gyoo Lee, Bongseong Kim, Kyungdo Han, Dong Wook Shin; 6/20Is breast cancer survivorship associated with the risk of Alzheimer dementia (AD), and how are cancer treatments associated with this risk? Breast cancer survivors may have a slightly lower risk of AD compared with cancer-free individuals, potentially influenced by cancer treatments, underscoring the need for further research on long-term neurocognitive outcomes in this population.

[Ireland] Palliative care nurse specialists’ perspectives on spiritual care at end of life—A scoping reviewJournal of Hospice & Pallaitive Nursing; Dunning, Bronagh MSc, PGCert, BSc, RGN, RNT, FHEA; Connolly, Michael PhD, MSc, BA, RGN, RNT; Timmins, Fiona PhD, FAAN, MSc, BA (Open), BSc (Open), BNS, FFNRSCI, RNT, RGN; June 2025The purpose of this scoping review was to explore and to summarize the published literature on palliative care nurse specialist’s perspectives of spiritual care at end of life. The research demonstrates that specialist palliative care nurses perceive spiritual care as an important element of holistic care at end of life; however, these nurses also agree that spiritual care is lacking. This deficiency results from a lack of education in spirituality; experience of the nurse; the nurses’ own spiritual and religious beliefs and values, fears, and difficulties in communication; and the nurse-patient relationship. The findings demonstrate the necessity to increase the level of spiritual care education in nurse programs, educating nurses on the provision of spiritual care, and how to deal with conflicts in spiritual and religious beliefs.

[UK] Palliative sedation at the end of life: Practical and ethical considerationsClinical Medicine; Dr Caroline Barry MBBS FRCP LLM FHEA PG Cert; Dr Robert Brodrick MB ChB (Hons) MA MRCP FHEA; Dr Gurpreet Gupta MBBS BSc PG Cert; Dr Imranali Panjwani LLB, PGDip, PG Cert, PhD; 6/25Highlights: The aim of palliative sedation is to relieve refractory suffering with the use of medications to reduce consciousness. Where palliative sedation is being used to treat agitation at the end of life, it is important to exclude and/or address reversible causes prior to starting medication. The drug, dose and route of administration of palliative sedation may vary according to the indication for treatment. Appropriate and proportionate use of palliative sedation does not hasten death. Suffering may have different meanings for people depending on their backgrounds and life experiences.

2025 World Hospice and Palliative Care Day: Using the Toolkit Effectively webinar Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA); press release / email; 6/17/25The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA) invites you to attend a 2025 World Hospice and Palliative Care Day: Using the Toolkit Effectively Webinar and you must register in advance, HERE. The theme for WHPCD is Achieving the Promise: Universal Access to Palliative Care, and this year’s World Day will be on 11 October. World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD) is a unified day of action in support of hospice and palliative care. Palliative care is an interdisciplinary caregiving approach that optimises quality of life and mitigates health-related suffering among people with very serious illnesses and their carers. WHPCD has been marked every year for the last 19 years.

[Canada] Health leaders’ perspectives and attitudes on medical assistance in dying and its legalization: A qualitative studyBMC Medical Ethics; Amanda Yee, Eryn Tong, Rinat Nissim, Camilla Zimmermann, Sara Allin, Jennifer L Gibson, Madeline Li, Gary Rodin, Gilla K Shapiro; 5/25This study highlights the wide-ranging and complex attitudes health leaders may hold towards MAiD [Medical Assistance in Dying] and identifies the convergence of multiple factors that may have contributed to the legalization of MAiD in Canada. Participants identified six factors that they believed to have led to the introduction of MAiD in Canada: public advocacy and influence; judicial system and notable MAiD legal cases; political ideology and landscape; policy diffusion; healthcare system emphasis on a patient-centred care approach; and changes in societal and cultural values. Participants expressed wide-ranging attitudes on the legalization of MAiD. Some described overall agreement with the introduction of MAiD, while still raising concerns regarding vulnerability. Others held neutral attitudes and indicated that their attitudes changed on a case-by-case basis. Participants described four factors that they considered to have had influence on their attitudes: personal illness experiences; professional experiences and identity; moral and religious beliefs; and, the valence of patient autonomy and quality of life.

[Wales] 'Breaking point' as people in last 12 months of life occupy 'almost a fifth of Welsh hospital beds' Sky News; 6/3/25 People in the last 12 months of their life occupy "almost a fifth of Welsh hospital beds", according to a end of life care charity. Marie Curie Cymru says end of life care in Wales is "at breaking point" and is calling on the next Welsh government to ensure high-quality care. The charity says that, for many, support could be better provided at home or close to home, as it launched its manifesto for next year's Senedd election at Cardiff Bay's Norwegian Church on Tuesday. Gareth Miles died at home in Llanddarog, Carmarthenshire, in September 2023. Mr. Miles, who had Parkinson's disease, had spent 10 weeks in hospital before his last week.