The NIHR Policy Research Unit (PRU) in Palliative and End of Life Care is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and hosted by King's College London in collaboration with the University of Hull, Lancaster University, the University of Leeds, and the University of Cambridge.
The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Palliative and End of Life Care has been awarded £2m funding for a further two years until December 2028. The Director of the Policy Research Unit is Professor Katherine Sleeman, and the co-Director is Professor Fliss Murtagh (University of Hull).
The PRU was initially funded for three years from January 2024 to December 2026 to support policy makers to improve care and reduce inequalities for children and adults affected by life-limiting illnesses, and their families and carers, including into bereavement.
As well as delivering a core programme of policy research, the PRU includes a Rapid Response facility providing policymakers with timely, relevant and accessible evidence to improve palliative and end-of-life care.
To date, the PRU has undertaken three core projects and ten rapid response projects, from understanding costs and cost effectiveness of specialist palliative care, better provision of palliative care for people from ethnically diverse communities, to roles and contributions of district and community nurses in palliative and end-of-life care.
A particular focus of the PRU has been on palliative and end-of-life care for babies, children and young people. This has included studies of shared decision-making in the care of critically ill children, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of specialist palliative care and the use of primary and secondary care during the last year of life.
The PRU has also had opportunity to have a direct impact on government policy; a project on costs of palliative and end of life care was used extensively in the Government's Impact Assessment for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill 2025. Furthermore, a project on modelling the health economic implications of specialist palliative care was cited extensively by the Commission on Palliative and End-of-Life Care, in the report of the House of Lords Committee on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, in the report of the National Audit Office on financial sustainability of the hospice sector and in the report of the Public Accounts Committee on hospice funding.
The additional funding will enable the PRU to continue to deliver impactful research aligned with policy priorities. This is especially important in light of the NHS's 10-Year Plan and the Modern Service Framework for Palliative Care and End of Life Care.
