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High-quality end of life care depends on timely, safe and compassionate access to medicines. For nurse prescribers working in palliative and end of life care, prescribing is not an “add-on” – it’s a core clinical skill that directly affects comfort, dignity, and family experience.
Nationally, there is clear recognition that people still do not always get the right support as they approach the end of life, and that access to medicines remains inconsistent. The Government has confirmed that a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England is in development for publication in Spring 2026, aligned to the 10-Year Health Plan and its ambition for personalised, compassionate support in community settings.
At the same time, national scrutiny continues to highlight gaps in access to medicines:
“Patients undergoing palliative or end-of-life care experience ‘insufficient’ 24/7 access to medication”
Pharmaceutical Journal discussion House of Commons report December 2025
“We talked about the need to ensure good access to medicines at the end of life, and the barriers associated with this…Good symptom management is a crucial part of end of life care”
Care Quality Commission July 2025
“In the last week of life 35% of those who died were reported to be severely or overwhelmingly aff ected by pain and 40% were severely or overwhelmingly affected by breathlessness.”
UK Parliament Terminally Ill Adults (end of life) Bill, January 2025
Nurse prescribers are central to improving this picture — through anticipatory prescribing, robust governance for controlled drugs, safe syringe driver use, and clinically sound prescribing for pain, breathlessness and delirium. The National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) found that 77% of bereaved people agreed the dying person received sufficient pain relief during their final hospital admission, while 12% disagreed.
This practical, skills-focused conference is designed specifically for nurse prescribers and non-medical prescribers in palliative and end of life care who want to strengthen confidence, competence and governance — and take away real tools they can use immediately in clinical practice.
Why attend?
You will learn from an expert multidisciplinary faculty including nurse consultants, palliative care consultants and consultant pharmacists from hospices and NHS Trusts.
Through the day you will build practical capability in:
Prescribing in the last days/hours of life (including anticipatory prescribing and managing uncertainty)
Pain prescribing at the end of life (including malignant and complex pain with case-based learning)
Controlled drugs governance and safe prescribing beyond product licence where appropriate
Syringe drivers and syringe driver combinations: safety, compatibility and practical decision-making
Avoiding cognitive side effects and delirium: medication review, anticholinergic burden and safer choices
Leading prescribing practice: competence frameworks, regulation, communication and MDT working
Audit and evaluation to evidence safe practice
Supports CPD professional development and acts as revalidation evidence. This course provides 5 hours training for CPD subject to peer group approval for revalidation purposes
What you will take back to practice
This conference will enable you to:
Strengthen confidence and competence in nurse prescribing for end of life symptom control (pain, breathlessness, delirium and agitation)
Apply practical approaches to anticipatory prescribing in the last days/hours of life
Understand and implement controlled drug governance: legal/clinical responsibilities, documentation and common pitfalls
Make safer prescribing decisions to reduce delirium and cognitive side effects, including managing anticholinergic risk
Improve safety and reliability in the use of syringe drivers and common combinations (including “what to do when it isn’t working”)
Demonstrate safe practice aligned to professional standards, including evidence for competence and revalidation (linked to the NMC Code where applicable)
Develop skills to lead prescribing practice locally: keeping up to date, building infrastructure/support for prescribers, and influencing MDT practice
Use audit and evaluation to improve quality and evidence impact in your service
Programme highlights
National update for nurse prescribing – developments, expectations, and building a revalidation-ready evidence trail
Best practice prescribing in last days/hours – palliative team perspective and anticipatory prescribing
Symptom control masterclass – breathlessness and prescribing in uncertainty, with infrastructure needed to support prescribers
Controlled drugs + syringe drivers – governance and practicalities with a consultant pharmacist perspective
Pain masterclass – malignant and complex pain, plus how pain services interface with hospice/palliative teams
Delirium-safe prescribing – medication review and avoiding cognitive harms
Leading prescribing practice – competence, regulation, communication, and case-based breakouts
Heart failure case study – real service model and prescribing in end-stage disease
Audit & evaluation – measuring quality and improving prescribing practice over time
