Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie (/ˈkjʊəri/ KURE-ee, Polish pronunciation: [ˈmarja skwɔˈdɔfska kʲiˈri]; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, Polish: [ˈmarja salɔˈmɛa skwɔˈdɔfska]; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Her husband, Pierre Curie, was a co-winner on her first Nobel Prize, making them the first ever married couple to win the Nobel Prize and launching the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. She was, in 1906, the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris.She was born in Warsaw, in what was then the Kingdom of Poland, part of the Russian Empire. She studied at Warsaw's clandestine Flying University and began her practical scientific training in Warsaw. In 1891, aged 24, she followed her elder sister Bronisława to study in Paris, where she earned her higher degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work. In 1895 she married the French physicist Pierre Curie, and she shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with him and with the physicist Henri Becquerel for their pioneering work developing the theory of "radioactivity"—a term she coined. In 1906 Pierre Curie died in a Paris street accident. Marie won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of the elements polonium and radium, using techniques she invented for isolating radioactive isotopes.Under her direction, the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms by the use of radioactive isotopes. In 1920 she founded the Curie Institute in Paris, and in 1932 the Curie Institute in Warsaw; both remain major centres of medical research. During World War I she developed mobile radiography units to provide X-ray services to field hospitals.While a French citizen, Marie Skłodowska Curie, who used both surnames, never lost her sense of Polish identity. She taught her daughters the Polish language and took them on visits to Poland. She named the first chemical element she discovered polonium, after her native country.[a]Marie Curie died in 1934, aged 66, at the Sancellemoz sanatorium in Passy (Haute-Savoie), France, of aplastic anemia from exposure to radiation in the course of her scientific research and in the course of her radiological work at field hospitals during World War I. In addition to her Nobel Prizes, she has received numerous other honours and tributes; in 1995 she became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in Paris' Panthéon, and Poland declared 2011 the Year of Marie Curie during the International Year of Chemistry. She is the subject of numerous biographical works, where she is also known as Madame Curie...
Background: Care home residents may require timely access to controlled drugs (CDs) for end-of-life symptom management, particularly when symptoms escalate rapidly. Delays in access or administering CDs can increase distress for residents, families, and staff. We aimed to explore UK care home professionals’ experiences of accessing and using CDs for end-of-life care, and views on the feasibility of on-site centralised CD stock. Methods: A UK-wide, cross-sectional online survey of care home staff was conducted between May and July 2025. Respondents were recruited through professional networks, social media and snowball sampling. Data were analysed using a multimethod approach combining quantitative analysis with Framework Method analysis of free-text responses. Results: Overall, 359 respondents completed the survey. Most held management roles (64.9%) and worked in care homes providing nursing care (75.8%). Among 339 respondents included in the analysis of CD access delays, 103 (30.4%) reported delays in the previous three months. Respondents reporting delays in access were more likely than those who did not to also report delays in CD administration (87.9% versus 19.5%), negative impacts on resident care (46.2% versus 5.2%), and difficulties accessing staff to administer CDs (28.6% versus 7.0%). Qualitative findings showed that rapid deterioration could expose gaps in CD access and administration pathways. Respondents perceived that timely care depended on coordinated and responsive working across care homes and external services, with delays occurring when service processes were fragmented or staffing capacity and capability were insufficient. Most respondents viewed on-site centralised stock as beneficial for resident experience (244/359, 68.0%), particularly those who had experienced delays. Qualitative responses also indicated that on-site centralised stock could improve timely access when resident-specific supply was delayed or unavailable, alongside the need for appropriate safeguards and governance. Conclusions: Improving timely CD access for end-of-life care requires action across the prescribing, supply and administration pathway, alongside ensuring adequate workforce capacity and external clinical support. On-site centralised CD stock may provide an additional route to timely access, particularly when individual-specific supply pathways are delayed or unavailable. However, implementation would require clear governance, prescribing and authorisation processes, accountability, staff training, secure storage, monitoring, and regulatory safeguards.
Background: Healthcare assistants (paid nursing support workers without professional qualifications) provide care for terminally ill patients but remain understudied in palliative care research. Working alone in patients' homes presents a distinct set of intersecting challenges: decision-making in distressing situations, professional isolation and limited access to training and support. Despite growing recognition of the importance of staff wellbeing for care quality and workforce retention, little is known about factors affecting wellbeing and intention to leave among this workforce.Aim: To explore factors affecting wellbeing and intention to leave among lone working healthcare assistants providing palliative and end-of-life care in the community.Design: Qualitative study combining free-text survey responses and semi-structured interviews, analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.Setting/participants: Healthcare assistants from a charitable hospice organisation in the United Kingdom.Results: One-hundred and eighty-three participants completed free-text survey questions; 14 participated in interviews. A number of societal, organisational and individual factors impacting on wellbeing and intention to leave were generated. Healthcare assistants experience high job satisfaction from meaningful work alongside systematic undervaluation. Many factors that influence wellbeing and intention to leave fall within organisational control, particularly support systems, workplace culture, recognition, and training opportunities.Conclusions: Organisations have clear opportunities to improve healthcare assistants' wellbeing and retention through targeted interventions addressing support, recognition, and professional development needs.
Background: With a rapidly ageing prison population in the United Kingdom (UK), an increasing number of people in prison are dying from chronic and life-limiting illnesses. Methods: A sample of 487 independent investigation reports into deaths from natural causes in UK prisons (2017–2020) was examined to explore palliative care referrals, appropriateness of restraints, applications for early release on compassionate grounds (ERCG), and equitable access to healthcare. Results: Most of the reports were based on male prisoners aged 60+, and the leading cause of death was cancer. While care was regarded as ‘equivalent’ in 83.7% of cases, several reports indicated delayed diagnosis, poor care coordination, and limited access to palliative care, particularly for people with non-malignant diseases. Restraints were regularly criticised as inappropriate or inhumane, and early release was not considered in 42% of cases, often due to delays or procedural issues. When viewed through Nussbaum’s Capability Approach, being unable to access healthcare ‘when needed’ represents a failure to secure the basic capability of bodily health, and reflects a profound restriction on practical agency. Conclusions: Delays in diagnosis, treatment, and referral are not merely inefficiencies but constitute structural barriers that constrain individuals’ real opportunities to achieve health and well-being. It is anticipated that older people in prison will experience layered capability inequalities, arising from age, health status, and custodial context. These findings suggest that prisons function as sites of punishment and environments in which capability deprivation is intensified towards the end-of-life.
Background Palliative care supports the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of people with serious life-limiting illness. Future research must align with the priorities of people approaching the end of their lives, and those close to them.Aims To undertake a refresh of the James Lind Alliance Palliative and End of Life Care Priority Setting Partnership, to identify and prioritise areas for future research.Design The James Lind Alliance process was applied, between May 2023 and February 2025. An initial online survey collected areas for future research from participants. These were synthesised into a long list of questions and shortlisted through a second online survey. Final ranking of priorities was achieved using an adapted Nominal Group Technique within a prioritisation workshop.Participants People living with serious life-limiting illnesses, carers, friends and family members supporting them, bereaved people, health and social care professionals, volunteers working in palliative and end-of-life care and members of the public.Results 1032 and 626 responses were received to survey 1 and 2, respectively. 20 people with lived and professional experience attended the prioritisation workshop. An updated list of 24 priorities for palliative and end-of-life care research was produced.Conclusion The priorities reflect the range of issues shaping end-of-life experiences and serve as a call to action for researchers and funders.
