Palliative Care Research on the Island of Ireland

1. Palliative Care Research Network (PCRN)
2. PCRN Strategic Plan (2017-2022)
3. PCRN - Research on the Island of Ireland
4. PCRN Strategic Scientific Committee

Palliative Care Research Network (PCRN)

In 2012, AIIHPC established the Palliative Care Research Network (PCRN) to address the need for more collaborative multidisciplinary research in palliative care on the island of Ireland. This network was the first of its kind for palliative care in Ireland. 

The PCRN aims to offer the all-island palliative care research community opportunities to create and engage within a collaborative environment, supporting the development of excellent, high quality, clinically-relevant and innovative research projects that reflect, inform and contribute to the advancement of AIIHPC’s work programmes.

PCRN Members include leading researchers from AIIHPC’s partner organisations on the island of Ireland who focus on palliative care research from medicine, nursing, psychology, allied health, health economics, pharmacy and law disciplines. Our members come from many of the major research institutions including:

The Annual PCRN Symposium allows members opportunities to learn from global experts, share knowledge and network.

Benefits of Being a PCRN Member

The PCRN is constantly evolving and expanding and we want even more researchers to join and benefit from this collaborative community of peers.  Membership provides opportunities to:

• Collaborate with senior researchers, clinicians, service users, policy makers and funders in palliative care and other relevant areas on the island of Ireland and internationally
• Gain support for patient-public involvement through the AIIHPC Voices4Care research panel
• Lead, mentor and build research capacity
• Ensure research is relevant to global and national policy and practice priorities
• Access AIIHPC’s proven experience in
• Developing collaborative proposals
• Building partnerships including those with patient-public involvement
• Transfering knowledge to clinicians, educators, policy makers, service users and the wider community including via the palliative hub

Also, PCRN members provide mentoring and support to the Early Career Researcher Forum, a supportive network for early stage researchers in palliative care. If you are a leading researcher from one of our partner organisations with a focus or interest in palliative care research please apply to be considered eligible to become a member of the PCRN.

Annual reports for the PCRN are available for review at the following links: 

• PCRN Annual Report 2013
• PCRN Annual Report 2014
• PCRN Annual Report 2015
• PCRN Annual Report 2016

To enquire about the PCRN and how to become a member please email the Chair, Professor Joanne Reid (j.reid@qub.ac.uk) or AIIHPC Research Programme Manager, Dr Mary Rabbitte: mrabbitte@aiihpc.org

Download the PCRN Brochure

Palliative Care Research Network Strategic Plan (2017-2022)

In 2017 the Palliative Care Research Network (PCRN) launched a five year strategic plan. This strategic plan sets out a direction for the PCRN network, building and strengthening our research community and ensuring that research impacts at the local, national and international levels. The PCRN Strategic Plan (2017-2022) provides a framework for all those seeking to undertake palliative care research, from early career researchers to those leading and shaping international projects. Through this strategy the PCRN demonstrates its commitment to work collaboratively to strengthen palliative research, education, policy and practice on the island of Ireland and further afield. The plan has identified five strategic activity areas and actions that will be implemented over the 5 years to improve Quality of Life (QoL) for people with life limiting conditions through research that changes practice and informs policy. The five strategic activity areas are:

To learn more about the Palliative Care Research Network Strategic Plan (2017-2022) download the full document or to learn how the Strategic Plan was developed click on the Poster available at the following link: Developing the All-Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC) Palliative Care Research Network Strategic Plan 2017 – 2022.

To view the implementation plan for 2018 download Palliative Care Research Network Strategic Plan (2017-2022): 2018 Implementation Plan

PCRN - Research on the Island of Ireland

Between 2012 and 2017 the Health Research Board (HRB) in Ireland and AIIHPC invested €1.26m (£1.11m) in palliative care research. This investment supported senior and early career researchers on the island of Ireland to carry out research on the inequality of palliative care service delivery and measuring and evaluating palliative care outcomes:

Pathways toward Social Justice: Understanding Equality and Inclusion in Palliative Care (Research strand one): is based on the premise that inequality exists in relation to palliative and hospice care access and service delivery across the island of Ireland for people with serious mental illness, intellectual disability, children with non-malignant life-limiting conditions and advanced heart failure.

Watch this short video summarising this body of research by the lead principal investigator Professor Philip Larkin, Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing (Palliative Care), School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, College of Health Sciences, University College Dublin.

Click on the links below to learn more about the evidence-based knowledge generated from each research project:

• Identifying and Addressing the Needs of People with Serious Mental Illness
• Identifying and Addressing the Needs of People with Intellectual Disability
• Exploring Dimensions of Inequality in Current Palliative Care Provision for Carers of People with Advanced Heart Failure in Ireland
• An Exploration of Access, Decision Making and Experiences of Palliative Care Services for Families of Children with a Non-Malignant Life-Limiting Condition.
• Social Justice and Palliative Care

Measurement and Evaluation of Outcomes for Palliative Care (Research strand two): explores methodological development for palliative care research with a focus on measurement of needs, measurement of impact and evaluation of service priority and delivery. 

Watch this short video summarising this body of research by the lead principal investigator Professor Charles Normand, Edward Kennedy Professor of Health Policy and Management, Centre for Health Policy and Management, Trinity College Dublin.

Click on the links below to learn more about the evidence-based knowledge generated from each research project:

• Eliciting Preferences for Complex Packages of Palliative Care – Extension of IARE study (International Access, Rights and Empowerment Programme).
• Development and Evaluation of a Psycho-Educational Intervention for Patients with Refractory Cachexia and their Lay Carers
• Towards Improved Diagnosis and Symptom Management in Palliative Care

Palliative Care Research Network Strategic Scientific Committee

The Palliative Care Research Network Strategic Scientific Committee is responsible for supporting the strategic development of the Network. In collaboration with All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care, the Committee supports the management of proposals for activities and programmes of work for the Network. The Committee’s membership includes representatives from academic institutions, hospices, members of the Voices4Care Research Panel (Voices4Care is AIIHPC’s service user, carer and interested citizen group and within this group there is a Research Panel subgroup) and health funding organisations across the island of Ireland.

The PCRN Strategic Scientific Committee meets four times per year: