Table 1 Topic guide

Training experience

 What sort of training, if any, have you already received regarding how to communicate with and support people with serious, life-threatening illness, and their families?

  Prompts: This can include undergraduate or post-graduate training, short courses, professional development courses, etc.

Training topics [participants shown list of EoLC topics (Table 2)]

 Are there any topics that would be helpful in an EoLC training course for GPs? Why?

 Are there any topics that would not be helpful or relevant in an EoLC training course for GPs? Why not?

 Are there any topics we haven’t mentioned that you think should be included in an EoLC training course for GPs? [Explore justification for these additional items]

Preferred course format /time/ delivery

 How long should a course be? Prompts: Would you prefer shorter sessions over multiple days, or fewer longer sessions? Two days? One day?

 When should it be held? Prompt: Are particular times of day best?

 Who should attend? Prompt: Would you prefer a course attended by many different healthcare professionals or GPs only? What benefits are there to multi-professional learning? What drawbacks?

 Who should teach the course? Prompt: hospital/community palliative care staff? Other generalist providers e.g. GPs?

 How should it be taught? Prompt: in-person versus online, as lectures versus interactive skills training. What about a mixture of in-person and online resources?

 Where should it be held? Prompt: at a local hospital? Local hospice? Non-medical location?

Mentoring / ongoing supervision techniques

 Do you think that ongoing mentoring or supervision would be useful or not useful alongside an end of life care training course?

  Prompts: If yes, what do you think would be the best way to provide this? What are your views of mentoring by an expert by experience, i.e. patient/family member? If you don’t think mentoring/supervision would be useful, why not?

Testing training effectiveness

 How would you feel about us assessing the effectiveness of the training course by…

  videoing or audio-recording your encounters with real or actor patients or families?

  using patient or family satisfaction measures?

  using 360° appraisals from colleagues, managers, patients and family members?

  using process outcomes, for example referral to palliative care or place of death?

  Prompts: Are any of these methods particularly preferable or not preferable? Why?