Background Palliative care research receives limited funding (Marie Curie & NIHR. Palliative and end of life care research 2011–2018/19: Marie Curie and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) portfolio snapshot. 2024), and healthcare professionals often find involvement challenging (Chen, Riffin, Reid, et al. J Palliat Med. 2014;17(7):782–7). Our hospice’s participation in CHELsea II (Clinically assisted hydration in patients in the last days of life: a cluster randomised trial) (Davies, Waghorn, Roberts, et al. BMJ Open. 2022;12(11) highlighted the need to improve staff engagement with research, and that patients were generally approached later during admission, often at a sensitive time.

Aims Identify barriers hindering healthcare professionals in asking patients about research participation, implement interventions promoting research awareness, and empower healthcare professionals to routinely explore patient wishes regarding research studies early during inpatient unit admission, especially whilst patients still had capacity. To further promote a research culture within the hospice.

Methods All clinical hospice staff (n=218) were emailed a survey to identify barriers and solutions. Subsequent interventions included: two interactive educational sessions with inpatient unit staff (seven attendees) and community multiprofessional teams (22 attendees), and an updated induction for incoming medical trainees. All inpatient unit admissions over Nov 23-May 24 were audited before and after interventions to record patients asked about research preferences.

Results Survey respondents (n=32) included doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants. Barriers cited included timing questions appropriately, forgetting, and patients’ capacity. Respondents identified teaching and system prompts as solutions. Pre-intervention, 3/61 (4.9%) admitted patients (Nov ‘23-Jan ‘24) were asked about research on admission. Post-intervention (March ‘24-May ‘24) 3/22 (13.6%) were asked, each by different staff members. 5/6 patients (83.3%) asked were keen to be involved in research and motivated by altruism. Preliminary results were presented within the hospice research group.

Conclusion Identifying local barriers helped us design interventions. Small teaching sessions empowered healthcare professionals and impacted the proportion of patients asked about research wishes on admission. Future interventions are being planned. Further assessment is needed to gauge any impact on trial recruitment. Continuing efforts to promote palliative care research and overcome barriers remain essential.