The Palliative Care Formulary (PCF5) published in the UK is aimed at clinical staff working in the palliative care and hospice environment. The work is supported by a large team of editors based in the UK, Europe and Australia. The layout will be familiar to users of the British National Formulary (BNF). The softback book is a reproduction of a continuously updated resource at http://www.palliativedrugs.com/ that can be accessed for a fee.

The text is evidence based where possible throughout the text, though in this area of medicine much is based on wisdom. There is discussion of an evidence hierarchy at the beginning of the book, but this is not explicitly …