SCE Palliative Medicine: question practice and revision.

Choose a topic for focused revision and check your plan against the official specification.

• Symptoms / clinical problems secondary to life-limiting disease (pain, breathlessness, nausea, agitation)
• Other (treatment-induced) symptoms — opioid toxicity, chemo and radiotherapy adverse effects
• Emergencies — spinal cord compression, hypercalcaemia, massive haemorrhage, SVC obstruction
• Management of concurrent clinical problems unrelated to progressive illness
• Mental Capacity Act, LPA, coronial and end-of-life law
• Ethics, withdrawal of treatment, communication and shared decision-making
• Service organisation, MDT and bereavement

Topics that dominate marks across recent sittings.

• Opioid conversion — oral to subcut to transdermal, accounting for incomplete cross-tolerance
• Pain by mechanism — neuropathic vs nociceptive vs visceral, adjuvant choice
• Breathlessness — opioid and benzodiazepine titration, oxygen indications
• Anticipatory prescribing — syringe driver drug compatibilities and stat doses
• Hypercalcaemia of malignancy — IV fluid, bisphosphonate or denosumab choice
• Mental Capacity Act assessment — functional test, best interests, IMCA referral triggers

Candidate-reported observations from recent sittings.

Candidate-reported observations — not official guidance.

1. Opioid conversion ratios — particularly oral morphine to subcutaneous diamorphine (factor of 3) and to fentanyl patches.
2. Spinal cord compression — dexamethasone dose, urgency of MRI, referral pathway.
3. Mental Capacity Act questions — confusing the diagnostic test with the functional test, and missing the IMCA trigger criteria.
4. Syringe driver compatibilities — particularly cyclizine and dexamethasone precipitation, and which drugs cannot be combined.
5. Communication and breaking bad news questions — examiners reward structured frameworks (SPIKES) over generic empathy phrases.
6. Paediatric palliative care content — typically under-revised but present in every sitting.

A phased approach used by recent SCE Palliative Medicine passers.

1. Weeks 1–4

   Foundation pass across symptom management. 30 questions/day. Read Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine in parallel.

2. Weeks 5–8

   Ethics, capacity and end-of-life law. Spaced repetition for the recurrent topics: MCA, DoLS, coronial referrals.

3. Weeks 9–11

   Two timed full 200-SBA mocks. Drill anticipatory prescribing and opioid conversions until automatic.

4. Week 12

   Bookmark review only. Confirm exam centre and admission requirements.

Dedicated SCE Palliative Medicine question practice with answer explanations, guided Tutor review and study planning.

• Focused question practice — Choose the relevant bank and use your answers to identify what to study next.
• Guided reasoning — Explore a difficult answer with Tutor, then apply the distinction independently.
• Review and timed practice — Return to important mistakes and choose a timed practice set where available.

Choose the relevant bank and use the official exam guidance to plan your preparation.

Next SCE Palliative Medicine sitting: 16 June 2027. Applications: 24 February 2027–24 March 2027. Applications open and close at 08:00 UK local time. Confirm booking and delivery arrangements with the Federation.

The exam covers the JRCPTB UK Palliative Medicine curricula from 2010 and 2022. Both remain examinable.

NICE end-of-life care guidelines, APM (Association for Palliative Medicine) guidance, BNF Palliative Care section, and the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine are useful companion resources. Use them alongside the published curriculum and exam blueprint.

Yes — every sitting includes paediatric palliative care content. Candidates report it as under-revised relative to its appearance in the exam.

Full SCE Palliative Medicine bank access is included in all-access. Up to 10 new sample questions per day are shared across exams, with no account required. A verified free account includes one guided Tutor session; continued Tutor use is included in all-access.