The partnership aims is to bring together clinicians, researchers, and service users from diverse areas to progress high-quality research around the topic area of functional loss and rehabilitation in palliative and end of life care.

When people are living with illness they often experience ‘functional loss’ where they unable to do usual everyday activities they would like or need to do. These might include simple things like bathing and dressing, or more complex things like going shopping or managing bills. Life-limiting illnesses (like cancer, chronic lung disease, and dementia) and many symptoms (like pain, breathlessness, and fatigue) limit the everyday tasks people can do. As a result, functional loss is a common source of suffering for patients and their families. Rehabilitation aims to support a person to carry out everyday activities that have been affected by illness as well as possible.

The Palliative Rehabilitation Research Partnership will work with public members and health professionals to find out what what current services are available, and what knowledge and skills people already have. They will identify important unanswered research questions about functional loss and rehabilitation in palliative and end of life care and lead collaborative workshops to develop new research ideas to answer the most promising questions which have been identified. 

The Partnership hope that this work will improve care for patients and their families, and address inequalities in how rehabilitation is delivered during this important time.

Read more about the NIHR Palliative Research Partnership