Social prescribing is an approach to addressing non-medical issues affecting people’s health and well-being (eg, loneliness, housing or financial problems). It has gained international traction over recent years as complementary to medical care. A larger research project, comparing social prescribing across European countries, is considering how to tailor provision for the following groups: (a) LGBTIQ+persons, (b) refugees and first-generation immigrants and (c) older adults living alone. As part of this research, a qualitative study will address the question: What are the enabling and limiting factors associated with implementing social prescribing, across different European countries, from the perspective of key stakeholders?

Five European countries (Austria, England, Germany, Poland, Portugal) will be involved. Researchers from each country will conduct approximately 20 semi-structured interviews (total number will be 100). Interviewees will be people receiving, delivering, managing and funding/commissioning social prescribing. Interviews will be audio-recorded and transcribed. A cross-country analysis will be undertaken; framework analysis will support this process, with a chart developed in Excel in which data from across the five countries is summarised by the researchers involved. Summaries will be based on a thematic framework that researchers from the five countries develop together after initially analysing their own data.

Ethical approval was initially secured through the University of Oxford’s Medical Sciences Interdivisional Research Ethics Committee (IDREC 1806086) for data collection in England. This approved application was then used to secure ethics approval in Austria (through Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft), Germany (through Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Poland (through Wroclaw Medical University) and Portugal (through NOVA University of Lisbon). Dissemination will include an academic journal article and presentation at relevant conferences. It will also include short videos, written summaries/policy briefs and an infographic.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 101155873. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

The rapidly growing population of older adults (individuals aged 65 years and older) presents a new set of challenges for healthcare providers in the emergency department (ED), given the prevalence of severe and life-threatening conditions among this group, such as chronic cancer, Alzheimer’s disease/dementia and congestive heart failure. ED encounters often represent a critical point in an older patient’s trajectory of care and can thus be an important opportunity for various interventions such as palliative care consultation. Therefore, identifying those who will benefit most from palliative care is of high importance, especially in determining the course of future treatment. Thus, we aim to conduct a systematic review assessing the efficacy of palliative care screening in the ED by assessing inpatient length of stay as the primary outcome and quality of life, percentage of hospitalisation and cost of care as secondary outcomes.

This study will use Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, EBSCO CINAHL, Web of Science and Cochrane as databases. The study population comprises adults aged 60 years and older, with no focus on any specific clinical specialty or disease. Patients who have not received palliative care screening will serve as the comparator. Only studies with an applicable comparator will be considered. Studies published from 1 January 2000 to 1 July 2025 will be included.

All articles will be reviewed independently and in duplicate, and every author will participate in the review, data abstraction and conflict resolution process.

Ethical approval is not required as it is a protocol for a systematic review. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.

CRD42024562389.