Latest research news

Food banks and loneliness: our new research reveals the reality for many at the end of life

In 1952, Marie Curie and the Queen's Nursing Institute (QNI) published a ground-breaking report into the experiences of people with cancer receiving end of life care. 70 years on we partnered with the QNI again, to conduct another national survey of end of life care providers. We wanted to see how far we've come and what changes are still needed to help realise Marie Curie's vision of a better end of life for everyone.

To learn more, read our blog by Dr Emma Carduff (Head of Research and Innovation, Marie Curie), or read the full report.

(January 2024)

Marie Curie 2024 Research Conference – registration now open

Marie Curie is pleased to announce that the Marie Curie Research Conference 'Improving end of life for all' will take place virtually from Monday 5 to Friday 9 February 2024. Registration is free and is now open. 

The aim of the conference is to share the latest research and evidence in palliative and end of life care to improve the end of life experience for all. Everyone is welcome to attend the conference. 

(December 2023)

How can palliative and end of life care be improved? Complete Marie Curie's survey to shape future research

Palliative and end of life care is an under-researched area. Currently, too many people are dying without getting the care they need at the end of life. We want to help change that.

Marie Curie is launching a new survey asking people living with a serious life-limiting illness, those close to them, and health and social care professionals involved in their care to help us pinpoint the key issues that need to be addressed in future end of life and palliative care research.

Once we identify and prioritise the issues that people highlight in the survey results, researchers and funders can better direct their resources, bringing evidence-based improvements to people with a serious life-limiting illness.

Your views could really make a difference. Take the survey now.   To find out more about the project, visit the project website  . 

(September 2023)

Churchill Fellowship now open

The Churchill Fellowship is again partnering with Marie Curie and the Burdett Trust for Nursing to run a programme of Fellowships exploring palliative care. A Churchill Fellowship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead the change you want to see. Successful applicants will be funded to spend up to two months learning from the innovators in your field anywhere in the world, in person or online, before sharing your ideas and inspiring change across the UK. Applications are now open, and close on 14 November 2023 at 5pm. You can find out more and apply on the Churchill Fellowship website  .

(September 2023)

Language barriers linked to more pain at end of life

Research funded by Marie Curie found that language barriers are resulting in some people experiencing more pain at the end of their lives. Researchers from the University of Leeds interviewed 15 people of South Asian heritage from Bradford and Leeds who were either living with a terminal illness or caring for someone who is, asking them about their experiences of pain relief and identifying where healthcare professionals can improve support. It found that for many, language barriers meant they did not feel understood by healthcare professionals. You can read the full paper. Featured in the Yorkshire Post and online in the Telegraph and Argus.

(July 2023)

Submit your abstract for the Marie Curie Research Conference 'Improving End of Life For All' 2024

The conference will take place virtually from Monday 5 to Friday 9 February 2024 and will be free for all to attend.

Abstract submission is now open, and we are inviting abstracts for short oral presentations and posters on research in palliative and end of life care. More information about the conference and the call for abstracts, including the themes, can be found on our 2024 Conference page.

(July 2023)

Marie Curie launches new round of Research Impact Fund

The Marie Curie Research Impact Fund provides support for well-planned, high-quality, targeted activities that will facilitate the uptake of existing palliative and end of life care research into policy or practice to benefit people affected by dying, death and bereavement.

The fund is open to applications until 4 October 2023. A total of £100,000 is available for this round of the Impact Fund and applicants can apply for grants of up to £10,000 through the scheme.

Full details and guidance for applicants are available here. 

(July 2023)

A new tool for people living with Motor Neurone Disease

Deciding whether or not to have a gastrostomy (feeding tube) can be difficult and a new web-based decision aid has been designed to support people with MND in making this choice. The tool was created following research funded jointly by Marie Curie and the MND Association, led by Dr Sally Wheelwright from Brighton and Sussex Medical School. You can access the tool for free here  , and read more about how the tool was developed in a recently published paper  . A short video   was created to explain more about the tool, which was shared by Marie Curie and the MND Association on Global MND Awareness Day on the 21 June.

(June 2023)

Addressing barriers to equitable end of life experience – New Call for Research from Marie Curie

Call 12 of the Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme is now open, and we're inviting proposals for research that can help understand, and critically address barriers to equitable end of life experience.

Proposed research projects should be built in equal partnership with representatives of the communities or groups that are the focus of the research proposal and uplifting their voices should be a key priority. We will be holding a discovery webinar on Wednesday 21 June from 2-3pm to learn more about the call, ask questions and network with others. Find out more here: Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme.

(June 2023)

Grab and go guide to help understand and implement the Ambitions Framework

The Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care: a national framework for local action (2021-2026) provides guidance on how to improve palliative and end of life care and it is incorporated into the statutory guidance for Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). New research, funded by Marie Curie and conducted by a team based at The Open University (Erica Borgstrom, Joanne Jordan, Claire Henry, and Una St Ledger), sought to explore how people understand and implement the Framework. This project used a multi-stage design to learn from case studies, focus groups and workshops.

Based on the findings, the project team created a Grab-and-Go Guide to help people focus on the foundations and link them to their areas of practice or service.

You can read the full project report here  . The Grab-and-go guide Small Steps, Big Vision is available to download here  , as well as a customisable version here  .

(May 2023)

Two new commissioned calls now open for application, deadline 24 May 2023

Marie Curie has issued two new commissioned calls. One call is for research to understand how many people miss out on care and support at the end of life, with up to £100,00 available for this work. The other call is for research to understand the palliative and end of life care research workforce, with up to £50,000 available for this work.

Please click here for more information and to apply.

(March 2023)

The impact of Covid-19 on hospice care

Associate Professor John MacArtney (University of Warwick and Marie Curie) recently released a short film explaining why we, as a society, need to be more aware of the need of people with terminal illnesses to stay safe from covid. The film builds on our research study looking into the impact of Covid-19   on hospices and a report co-produced by the University of Warwick and Marie Curie.

To find out more about the research, you can contact john.macartney@warwick.ac.uk  . 

(December 2022)

Registration now open for the Marie Curie Virtual Research Conference 2023

We are pleased to announce that the Marie Curie 'Improving End of Life for All' Research Conference will be taking place virtually between Monday 6 – Friday 10 February 2023.

Registration is now open and is free – find out more here   and click on the link to register.

The aim of our conference is to share the latest research and evidence in palliative and end of life care to improve the end of life experience for all. We hope to inform and inspire attendees, to help change practice and shape future research.

The conference will start with a special session on out of hours care and will then continue with a focus each day on our key research, policy and public affairs priorities.

New to this year's conference will be our Spotlight sessions. These are one-hour, bitesize sessions designed to shine a light on topics that have been highlighted to us as areas of particular interest and importance in the sector. These include patient and public involvement, digital interventions, dementia, motor neurone disease, and the mental health and wellbeing of staff.

(15 November 2022)

New call for research to understand how many people miss out on care and support at the end of life

Marie Curie has issued a new commissioned call for research to understand how many people miss out on care and support at the end of life. The charity invites applications for projects that can assess levels of met, under-met and unmet need for palliative care for adults across the UK. Please click here   for more information and the application form.

(14 November 2022)

How to reduce, handle and report missing data in palliative and end of life care trials

Large amounts of missing data are found in palliative and end of life care trials which reduce how meaningful the findings of a study are. New guidelines have been published by Dr Jamilla Hussain, in collaboration with Marie Curie, on how to reduce, handle and report missing data. The guidelines aim to inform interested researchers, clinicians, research funders, trial units, patients, carers and patient and public involvement (PPI) partners and others about how missing data should be approached throughout the course of a study and how to evaluate the risks missing data pose to research findings.

Although this guidance focuses on palliative care studies, many of the recommendations will be relevant to other areas of healthcare research.

View the full guidance document  

View the summary version  

(July 2022)

Are you a health or social care professional who sees parents with a life-limiting illness who have dependent children?

Dr Steve Marshall, Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Cicely Saunders Institute, King's College London and a palliative care social worker, has just published findings   from research with more than 30 children and young people who have a parent with a life-limiting illness. The research contains important recommendations for practice for professionals.

From this research Dr Steve Marshall, in collaboration with Marie Curie, created a practical guide   which includes 10 tips for health and social care professionals to empower parents and carers to have conversations with their children about their life-limiting condition.

Dr Kate Brunham, Consultant Nephrologist and Clinical Senior Lecturer at King's College London, hosted a focus group on behalf of the research team to find out what health and social care professionals thought of the resource.

"They were very receptive to the opportunity to have a tool to guide their management for parents, as none felt confident or familiar with providing specific parental focussed support. The content and the presentation style were considered very appropriate for their needs... they felt many would benefit from upskilling in this important component of holistic care.

I provide care for many young patients with life-limiting illnesses who are juggling many complex commitments, including parenting. For me personally it has increased my confidence in using more direct and inclusive approaches for the children of my patients. As a parent, I am very aware of the conflicting priorities for parents, and concern about burdening their children. The guide has empowered me to be able to address one of their most important challenges associated with their condition, and I anticipate will be of benefit to many of my colleagues too!"

(July 2022)

Seeking facilitators for palliative care and homelessness community of practice

Join our info session on Thursday 7 July 2-3pm or Tuesday 19 July 2-3pm

People experiencing homelessness have high rates of most long-term conditions, are at risk of dying young, yet rarely have access to palliative care. To address this Pathway, Marie Curie and UCL, with support from NHS England and the Oak Foundation, are pleased to announce a new free-to-access set of resources to help you develop a community of practice in your area. The aim is to give you the tools to bring people from different services together to learn, share and collectively support people affected by homelessness who have multiple and complex needs and who may benefit from palliative care.

If you want to help improve care and support received by people experiencing homelessness who have advanced ill health, becoming a facilitator of a community of practice is for you. You can be from any professional background such as homelessness sector, palliative care, inclusion health etc.

We provide materials for eight sessions including videos from leading experts exploring a range of topics including complex trauma, frailty, palliative care and bereavement accompanied by a facilitator guide.

If you may be interested in becoming a facilitator join our upcoming virtual information session on Thursday 7 July at 2-3pm or Tuesday 19 July 2-3pm to hear more. You can sign up by filling in this short form.

(June 2022)

Research on financial insecurity at the end of life: Invitation to a kick-starter workshop

Building connections, building ideas: A kick-starter workshop to develop research ideas to understand and address financial insecurity at the end of life

Terminal illness profoundly affects every aspect of someone's life, including their financial situation. Through our work across the UK, Marie Curie sees far too many people who experience unacceptable living conditions or have reduced choice towards the end of life as a result of poverty.

On Thursday 12 May 2022, Marie Curie will launch a new targeted round of the Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme. We will invite expressions of interest for research projects that aim to provide new evidence to help understand and address issues related to financial insecurity at the end of life for all people affected by dying, death and bereavement, including carers, families and friends.

The following day, Friday 13 May, we will be running a kick-starter workshop to bring together researchers and other interested individuals, including people with lived experience, to make connections and generate ideas for research proposals for this round of the Research Grants Scheme.

When?
Friday 13 May 2022, 10.00am-3.30pm (with breakfast and networking from 9.00am)

Where?
National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Society Building, 8 All Saints Street, London, N1 9RL

Who?
We welcome anyone with an interest in being involved in developing research proposals in this area. This could include:

• Academic or clinical researchers at all career levels, or researchers affiliated with other relevant non-commercial organisations (such as charities or think tanks). They might have a palliative and end of life care or poverty research background, be working in a related area and see opportunities to transfer their expertise, or have methodological skills that could be harnessed to address research questions in this area.

• Individuals from any type of organisation who are involved in providing services and support relating to financial insecurity for people living with terminal illness, who can help to identify evidence needs in the area and provide the valuable perspective of evidence users.

• People with lived experience of the challenges of financial insecurity at the end of life who would like to use their experience to help shape research that looks to understand and address these challenges.

What?
The core aim of the workshop is to bring people together who have an interest in being involved in research in this area in order to make connections, discuss and develop ideas, and build collaborative teams.

We will begin the workshop with a scene setting session, discussing potential evidence needs in this area from a policy and practice perspective, as well as providing an overview of some relevant existing research to help stimulate ideas. This will be followed by facilitated, interactive activities to further develop early-stage ideas.

Participants will be supported to connect with each other following the workshop to take forward collaborations and ideas and to develop them into expressions of interest to submit to the Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme.

How to get involved?
If you would be interested in attending the workshop, please email research.grants@mariecurie.org.uk by Monday 25 April to express your interest. In your email, please tell us a little bit about your current role and why you want to attend the workshop.

We hope to be able to offer a place to everyone who is interested in attending but if we are oversubscribed may need to allocate places to maximise the diversity of attendees. We will confirm allocated places by Friday 29th April. Marie Curie will support travel costs for attendees without alternative sources of funding to cover this.

Additional information: About the 2022 Marie Curie research grants call
The 2022 research grants call will invite expressions of interest for research projects that aim to provide new evidence to help understand and address issues related to financial insecurity at the end of life for all people affected by dying, death and bereavement including carers, families and friends. This might include exploration of issues such as:

• the scale and nature of poverty and financial exclusion facing people living with terminal illness and their families and carers.
• groups of people facing particularly high risk of poverty at the end of life.
• additional costs of living faced by people living with terminal illness and their families
• problem debt
• experiences of unaffordable housing
• poverty and financial insecurity amongst carers of people living with terminal illness, including after bereavement.

Marie Curie is particularly interested in projects that seek to develop and/or evaluate policy and practice improvements which could help to address these or similar issues.

A total of £650,000 is available for this call. We envisage proposals to be costed at between £20,000 and £150,000 per project.

Full details and guidance for applicants will be available on the Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme webpage when the call launches on May 12. The call will be launched as part of a free event on poverty at the end of life in the UK that will feature new research by Dr Juliet Stone and Professor Donald Hirsch from the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, as well as discussion from an expert panel including Professor Sir Michael Marmot (University College London), Helen Barnard (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Pro Bono Economics) and Matthew Oakley (WPI Economics, Social Metrics Commission) – read more and sign up to attend that event here  .

(6 April 2022)

Could you help Marie Curie make the best possible research funding decisions?

We are seeking researchers with the relevant subject or methodological expertise to review proposals submitted in response to our latest call for research proposals as part of the Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme.

We will be sending proposals out to reviewers w/c 29^th November 2021 and asking for reviews to be returned by 14^th January 2022. Proposals will be matched in consultation with reviewers based on their methodological and thematic focus. Reviewers will also have the opportunity to flag any potential conflicts of interest prior to undertaking a review.

If you would be interested in joining Marie Curie’s pool of peer reviewers, please email research.grants@mariecurie.org.uk for more information. Your input will help us to fund research with the greatest potential to contribute to our strategic goal of achieving the best possible end of life experience for everyone.

(November 2021)

Marie Curie funded research evaluates advance care plans for children and young people

New resources have been produced from the Marie Curie Research Grants funded study A multi-perspective qualitative study to understand the experience and impact of the Child and Young Person's Advance Care Plan (CYPACP)

Dr Karen Shaw and Jenna Spry of Birmingham University evaluated the CYPACP, which is a nationally recognised advanced care plan that is suitable for all children, allowing for care planning in a range of different scenarios.

The CYACP comes with a number of different resources and has been adopted by much of the UK. The project aimed to find out how the plan is perceived by both families and health care professionals, its impact, and how it is used in practice.

There is more about the background to the project in this Marie Curie webinar.

The study came up with a number of recommendations related to the experience and impact of the plan, including that there is room for improvement, greater priority needs to be given to the long-term resourcing of the plan and that greater societal awareness of advance care planning and the CYPACP is needed.

They also produced a longer report that expanded on the recommendations with suggested impacts their work could have on policy and practice. Main points from this cover how both families and healthcare professionals can be better supported in using the CYPACP, legality and ownership of the plan, how to make the plan more family centred, and its use in an emergency.

(20 May 2021)

New research grant to help improve hospice care in West Midlands

Hospice care across the West Midlands has received an exciting boost as researchers have received a quarter of a million pound grant, awarded by the UK Research Initiative/Economic and Social Research Council (UKRI/ESRC), to establish better care for terminally ill patients.

Dr John MacArtney, Senior Research Fellow at the Marie Curie Hospice, West Midlands and the University of Warwick will lead on the project to explore the impact that Covid-19 has had on hospice care across the region, examining the experiences of up to 22 local hospices.

The research findings will help influence policy and practice across the UK to ensure learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic are applied and used to improve clinical practise for people dying now and in the years to come.

Dr MacArtney said:

"Hospices across the country have had to radically adapt over the last 12 months, implementing huge changes, such as limits on visits, which have had a lasting impact on patients and their families and placed pressure on community services. There are lessons we can learn from the last year that can help improve care for dying people in the future."

The Research Team will share more information about the project as it progresses. If you would like more information on the project now please contact: icoh@warwick.ac.uk

(22 April 2021)

New paper describes barriers to healthcare workers attempts to deliver end of life care during COVID-19

A new study from researchers at the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department, University College London, has been published that explores the barriers to delivering end of life care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and understands the impact this had on staff.

During infectious epidemics healthcare workers are required to deliver traditional care while facing new pressures. Time and resource restrictions, a focus on saving lives and new safety measures can lead to traditional aspects of care delivery being neglected.

Led by Lucy Mitchinson, Missing the human connection: A rapid appraisal of healthcare workers' perceptions and experiences of providing palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic incorporated a rapid review of policies from the United Kingdom, semi-structured telephone interviews with healthcare workers, and a review of mass print media news stories and social media posts describing healthcare worker's experiences of delivering care during the pandemic.

Results showed the development of three key themes, these were: restrictions to traditional care, striving for new forms of care and establishing identity and resilience.

The COVID-19 pandemic prohibited the delivery of traditional care as practical barriers restricted human connections. Staff prioritised communication and comfort orientated tasks to re-establish compassion at end-of-life and displayed resilience by adjusting their goals.

Read the full paper in Palliative Medicine. 

(31 March 2021)

New research funding grant for integrating palliative care and heart failure

We are delighted to announce that Dr Tracey McConnell, Senior Research Fellow in a joint post between Queen's University Belfast (QUB) and Marie Curie Hospice Belfast, has received a major new research grant from the National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research (NIHR HS&DR) funding stream.

The £267,199 grant is for collaborative work between Dr McConnell, Prof Joanne Reid (Joint Lead), and colleagues at Queen's University Belfast and Oxford University to conduct a realist synthesis on what works, for whom and in what circumstances when integrating palliative care and heart failure.

This is essential research, as evidence shows that palliative care can help relieve symptoms such as pain and breathlessness in heart failure patients, while also reducing time spent in hospital. However, research has shown that patients with heart failure are less likely to receive palliative care. This new research project will aim to help address and reduce these inequalities of accessing palliative care in heart failure patients.

For more information about the project head over to the NIHR website or listen to a previous presentation from Dr McConnell about her research so far the Marie Curie Vimeo page.

Dr Tracey McConnell holds a joint post between Marie Curie Hospice Belfast and the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast. She has developed a joint strategic research plan focused on building the evidence base for translating high quality palliative care provided to cancer patients to those with non-cancer diagnoses.

(3 March 2021)

Marie Cure is looking for an evaluation team to evaluate our exciting IMPaCT partnership work in Liverpool.

Integrated Mersey Palliative Care Team (IMPaCT) is the new consultant-led, integrated, multi-professional palliative care service for people with a life-limiting, progressive condition.

IMPaCT is comprised of teams from different care settings: community, hospices, and hospital linking with other multi-agency services as patient need dictates. This service aims to provide a single point of contact for patients, families and professionals to access appropriate care, information or advice in a timely way.

In this evaluation, we want to understand what difference the service makes to peoples' experience at end of life. The full request for proposals can be found here.

Deadline for submissions: 12 noon, 25 March 2021

Budget: up to £40,000 including VAT and expenses

Email contact: evaluation@mariecurie.org.uk

(10 February 2021)

Marie Curie’s new policy-themed small grants scheme is now open for applications

This policy-themed small research grants scheme aims to rapidly deliver evidence in relation to questions or issues identified by the policy and research teams at Marie Curie. The evidence generated will inform policy related activities and support Marie Curie’s ambition to improve the end of life experience for all.

While publication in academic journals is one route to impact, for a call such as this the publication of academic papers may be secondary to the development of policy briefings or reports, which may be time sensitive.

We are currently seeking proposals to explore the Impact of COVID 19 on place of death projections across the UK. You can find more information, including the application form and guidance notes here. 

(19 January 2021)

Exploring the experiences of healthcare workers during COVID-19

Professor Simon Noble of the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Centre (MCPCRC), Cardiff University, is part of a team who have been exploring the experiences of frontline NHS workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID Confidential is a study that aims to understand the psychological benefits of storytelling throughout the trauma of COVID-19.

The study recently produced it’s first output in the form of a paper published in BMJ Open. COVID-19 confessions: a qualitative exploration of healthcare workers experiences of working with COVID-19 explains how the COVID Confidential platform gave an outlet for unprompted and uncensored stories of healthcare workers in the context of COVID-19. In addition to personal experiences of trauma, there were perceptions that many operational difficulties stemmed from inequalities of power between management and front-line workers.

The paper contains many anonymous quotes and stories from frontline NHS staff, who recount things around how their work is both rewarding yet hugely traumatic, and how in the midst of the peak of the first wave of the pandemic they were left broken by the horror of what they were having to work with mentally, emotionally, psychologically and physically.

There is much to learn from the paper in relation to managing staff distress and improve patient care as the pandemic continues to hit NHS services hard throughout the winter.

COVID-19 confessions: a qualitative exploration of healthcare workers experiences of working with COVID-19 can be read in full in BMJ Open.

(22 December 2020)

New Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme project

We are delighted to announce a new project from our most recent round of the Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme is now active.

Dr Sarah Yardley, University College London has begun a study that aims to explore the challenges that patients and carers face when trying to achieve effective medication management at home and to understand the impact of professional practices on medicine management.

Getting prescription medications right at home, in hospital & hospice: An Activity Theory analysis to improve patient safety and confidence in palliative care will collect information from patients, carers and professionals to model 'real life' processes underlying medication management including areas such as decision-making, monitoring and supply and disposal of medications.

This study is important because people with palliative care needs use prescription medications to achieve symptom control, but 'daily hassles' with medications are often reported. What happens in 'real life' and the effort required to achieve effective medication management in palliative care is poorly understood.

We will provide updates as the project progress and in the meantime more information on the project can be found in the lay summary.

(9 December 2020)

Children and young people express their needs when a parent has a life limiting illness

Death of a parental carer is common in the UK, but the voice of the children is relatively unheard. Current guidance for healthcare professionals tends to be based on opinion as opposed to the feedback from affected children and young people.

Dr Steve Marshall of Kings College London has had a paper published in Palliative Medicine that explores how the voices of children are heard when they have a parent with a life limiting illness.

Funded by the Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme The perspectives of children and young people affected by parental life-limiting illness: An integrative review and thematic synthesis reviewed primary research already in existence that explored the views of children of parents with a life limiting illness. Inclusion criteria included studies publishing primary data from under 18s with a parent who has a life limiting illness for which there is no cure and will cause them to die prematurely.

The results were split in to four descriptive themes: emotional impact, impact on care giving, need for openness and managing the situation. Key findings included children living with parental life-limiting illness desire open communication, want to be more involved and often develop strategies to manage difficult situations.

Dr Marshall recently presented the background to his research at the first Marie Curie Virtual Research Conference, and you can view his full webinar here.

(23 November 2020)

Marie Curie Virtual Research Conference 2020

Last week saw the first ever Marie Curie Virtual Research Conference – a series of live webinars and extra content that showcased Marie Curie funded research from across the UK.

If you missed out on the live sessions, we’re delighted to announce that recordings of all the live webinars are now available:

• Monday 2 November – Bereavement
• Tuesday 3 November - Participation and Involvement in Palliative and End of Life Care Research
• Wednesday 4 November – Marie Curie Research and Policy
• Thursday 5 November - Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Palliative and End of Life Care
• Friday 6 November - Covid-19 & Palliative and End of Life Care.

All the bonus presentations and content can also be found here.

A huge thanks to everyone who attended the live sessions.

(12 November 2020)

The effectiveness of complementary therapy in palliative care

Dr Bridget Candy of the Marie Curie Palliative Research Department, University College London, presents the background, methods, results and conclusions of her study that explores the effectiveness of complementary therapy use in palliative care.

The project, funded by the Marie Curie Research Grant Scheme, explores the use of complementary therapy – something that is popular in palliative care, but the effectiveness and value for money given by these types of therapies is not well established.

Dr Candy’s presentation leads us through the stages, methods and conclusions of the project, which produced three separate research papers: The effectiveness of aromatherapy, massage and reflexology in people with palliative care needs: A systematic review, Aromatherapy, massage and reflexology: A systematic review and thematic synthesis of the perspectives from people with palliative care needs and Complementary therapy in palliative care: A synthesis of qualitative and quantitative systematic reviews.

Dr Candy’s presentation can be viewed here.

(1 October 2020)

Healthcare Assistants' role and contribution to out of hours care

In the latest in our series of presentations from researchers, Dr Felicity Hasson of Ulster University introduces her Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme funded project that explores the roles, responsibilities and contributions of  Healthcare Assistants in community out of hours care.

Dr Hasson introduces the background to the study, including why addressing out of hours care is so important, and the recently published paper: 'The roles, responsibilities and practices of healthcare assistants in out-of-hours community palliative care: A systematic scoping review'.

Dr Hasson also explores the impact COVID-19 has had on the team's work, and how things have been adapted in order for the project to continue.

Dr Hasson’s presentation can be viewed here.

(15 September 2020)

Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission

Last week the Lancet published its latest commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care.

Worldwide around 50 million people live with dementia, and this number is projected to increase to 152 million by 2050, rising particularly in low and middle-income countries.

An update to the 2017 commission, the latest edition expands the number of modifiable demenita risk factors from 9 to 12, to now include head injuries in mid-life, excessive alcohol consumption in mid-life, and exposure to air pollution in later life.

The 2020 commission update states that forty per cent of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by targeting these 12 modifiable risk factors, calling for nations and individuals to be ambitious about preventing dementia and lays out a set of policies and lifestyle changes to help.

The update also includes a section on end of life care, led by professor Liz Sampson of the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department, University College London. In this section the importance of earlier advanced care planning was highlighted, as was the unpredictable trajectory of the disease, meaning palliative care initiation should reflect need not prognosis.

The findings of the commission have also been examined in a Marie Curie blog post. 

(3 August 2020)

Experiencing Loss and Planning Ahead Study: Caring for a relative or friend with dementia

Dr Kirsten Moore of the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department, University College London, has had a paper published in International Psychogeriatrics.

Funded by the Alzeimer’s Society, Is preparation for end of life associated with pre-death grief in caregivers of people with dementia?   explores modifiable factors indicating preparation for end of life that could be associated with lower pre-death grief in caregivers of people with dementia.

Dr Moore has put together a narrated presentation for Marie Curie that describes some of the key findings from the paper. It explores the area of pre-grief in more detail and outlines the difficulty in how this can be managed, along with the key findings of the study that define what factors could potentially lower pre-grief in carers. The presentation also explores the impact and implications this can have in coronavirus times.

 Dr Moore's presentation can be viewed here.  

(25 June 2020)

Celebrating the Marie Curie Research Voices Group in Volunteers’ Week 

Volunteers’ Week runs from 1-7 June, and the Marie Curie Research Management Team would like to recognise and celebrate our Research Voices Group who contribute at all stages of our research process and in a variety of research projects that we fund.

We set up the group in 2013 to make sure we’re engaging meaningfully with people who have personal experiences of living with terminal illness through our research activities, and to ensure their views are represented.

We would like to say a massive thank you to our Research Voices Group this Volunteers’ Week for their continued dedication to, and support of, our research activities. Find out more about the group and what they do on the RVG website page.

(1 June 2020)

New publication: Symptom burden and clinical profile of COVID-19 deaths: a rapid systematic review and evidence summary

Professor Simon Noble of the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Centre, Cardiff University, has recently had a new rapid systematic review published that explores the modes of death experienced by patients with COVID-19 in relation to the most significant symptoms that are experienced and their intensity.

Results show there remains a dearth of information regarding symptom burden and mode of death to inform decisions regarding end of life care in patients dying with COVID-19, and that further rapid data gathering is required. Read the full paper in BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care  .

(1 June 2020)