Table 2 Focus group schedule

1. What is your role in or relationship with the local palliative care day services?

2. What are the main factors that facilitate or help you in your work in or engagement with palliative care day services.? (Can you give me an example of how any one of these factors affects your work?) Specific prompts for: Clinical staff re: providing outpatient care/ Management staff re: management/delivery of day-services and General Practitioners re: referring/access to day-services)

3. What are the main factors that impede or hinder you in your work in, or engagement with, palliative care day services? Can you give me an example of how any one of these factors affects your work? (Specific prompts for see above)

4a. What do you think are the main strengths & achievements of your local palliative care day services? (What factors have enabled / underpin these strengths & achievements? /How can these strengths & achievements be sustained / built on over time? What are the main threats to these strengths and achievements?)

5a. What do you think are the main weaknesses and limitations of local palliative care day services? (What factors have promoted / underpin these weaknesses and limitations? / What needs to happen for these limitations and weaknesses to be overcome? / What are the challenged in doing so?)

6. Have there been any unexpected outcomes of palliative care day services, whether good or bad? If so, what are they?

7. How do you think palliative care day services should be developed in the future, both locally and at a national level? What are the reasons for your answer?

8. Is there anything else you would like to discuss in relation to palliative care day services? (Prompt for locally, and at a national level)