Background ‘Rehabilitative Palliative Care’ is highlighted as important in a Hospice UK report (Tiberini & Richardson. Rehabilitative palliative care: Enabling people to live fully until they die, a challenge for the 21st century. 2015) but implementation is inconsistent. Despite positive patient feedback on rehabilitation in palliative care, (Belchamber, Gousy. Int J Ther Rehab. 2004; 11: 425–4343) there are currently no literature reviews in this area, leading to a lack of consensus of definition and implementation between palliative care professionals which can lead to misunderstandings. (Harding, Hall, Lloyd. BMJ Support Palliat Care. 2022; 12(e1):e28-e38).

Aims To undertake a scoping review of the literature to identify a consensus of the models of care used in Rehabilitative Palliative Care, specifically the role that PTs/OTs contribute in a specialist palliative care environment. To disseminate findings through publication and professional networks.

Methods A scoping review was conducted with a narrative synthesis. Medline, CINAHL and Scopus databases were used and PICOS terms were applied to identify adults in specialist outpatient or inpatient palliative care settings; outcomes of interest were any model of rehabilitation delivered by PT/OT. 20% of articles were double screened at title and abstract; all full text articles were double screened. A PRISMA diagram has been used to enhance the reporting quality of the research and create replicable methodology.

Results A total of 2156 articles were identified for title and abstract screening, with 51 retrieved for full-text and six meeting review criteria. These articles covered a variety of settings and interventions. There are differences in how rehabilitation is conducted in different locations; group gym programmes for outpatients and holistic functional assessments for inpatient hospice patients, but no clear consensus. Limitations include high attrition rates and disease trajectories, making generalisation difficult.

Conclusion There is a recognition that Rehabilitative Palliative Care is important for this population but there is no clear consensus on delivery of this. There is a need for consensus building exercises and further research to standardise and refine models.