The MPRU has developed and evaluated a range of materials for cancer and palliative care patients, as well as their caregivers, to facilitate communication with health professionals. Some of these are now available on our website.

Question prompt lists
A question prompt list is a structured list of questions for the patient, or their caregiver, to ask their doctor (or another health professional) if they wish. We have developed and evaluated a variety of question prompt lists which are designed for different settings. Some of these are listed below:

1 "Asking questions can help: an aid for people seeing the palliative care team"
This booklet is organised into different topics covering many areas that people may wish to address in the palliative care setting. The development and preliminary evaluation of this question prompt list is reported in Clayton et al. British Journal of Cancer 2003; 89: 2069-77. A randomised controlled trial has been completed and has been submitted for publication.
The first attachment can be used for single sided printing. The second attachment is a print ready version to produce an A5 booklet (print double sided, flipping on short edge, then fold in the middle and staple).
(download booklet 1)    (download print ready version booklet 1)

2. "So you have cancer...Questions to ask your medical or radiation oncologist"
This pamphlet includes a range of questions, including about the future, that cancer patients and their caregivers may want to ask their oncologist.
(download booklet 2)

3. "So you have cancer...Questions to ask your surgeon"
This includes a range of questions about various aspects of your cancer and treatment options, aimed particularly for patients seeing a surgeon. The development and pilot testing of this question prompt list is reported in McJannett et al. European Journal of Cancer Prevention 2003; 12: 397-405
(download booklet 3)

We hope to soon make additional communication tools available on this website. If you have any queries about the above documents please contact us on or contact Professor Phyllis Butow on .