Individuals with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), whether receiving dialysis or conservative care, experience high symptom burden and limited life expectancy, indicating substantial palliative care needs. Integrating palliative care into kidney care is vital for comprehensive ESKD management, but access remains uneven across sociodemographic groups. Identifying and addressing these disparities is key to ensuring equitable care and improving patient outcomes. This study aims to explore sociodemographic factors associated with specialist palliative care utilisation among people with ESKD.

This study protocol outlines a scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature using an established methodological framework by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), and reporting will adhere to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. Relevant literature will be identified through a multi-database (Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO) and grey literature search strategy designed alongside a health sciences librarian. To be included, articles must involve individuals with ESKD and report on how sociodemographic factors influence access to and utilisation of specialist palliative care services. Results of the search will be screened independently by two reviewers and data from included studies will be extracted independently and in duplicate. A narrative and thematic analysis will be conducted to identify key themes related to sociodemographic influences on specialist palliative care access and utilisation among individuals with ESKD, with particular attention to differences between kidney care modalities (dialysis vs conservative care) and the extent to which intersectionality of sociodemographic factors has been examined.

Ethics approval is not required for this scoping review. Findings will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Results will identify patient-related factors influencing access to specialist palliative care in ESKD and remaining gaps in the literature, informing future research and policy to support equitable care.