Palliative Care Calculators
24 calculators & risk scores
Browse 24 Palliative Care clinical calculators and risk scores used in everyday UK practice. Every tool runs entirely in your browser — enter the values and get instant scoring, colour-coded interpretation bands and a link to the underlying guideline or publication. ClinCalc Pro is free, needs no sign-up, and is built for working clinicians.
These palliative care tools span Symptom Assessment, Pain Assessment, Prognosis, Bone Health, Performance Status, Pain Management and more.
- Edmonton Symptom Assessment System — Revised (ESAS-r)10-item patient-rated symptom assessment tool used in palliative care. Rates pain, tiredness, drowsiness, nausea, appetite, shortness of breath, depression, anxiety, wellbeing, and an optional patient-specific symptom — each 0–10. Used to monitor symptom burden and treatment response.
- Neck Disability Index (NDI)10-item self-report questionnaire assessing neck pain-related disability. Each section scored 0–5. Total 0–50. Originally designed for whiplash but used broadly for cervical spine conditions. Percentage disability = score × 2.
- PEG Scale — Pain, Enjoyment of Life and General Activity3-item brief chronic pain measure assessing average pain intensity, pain interference with enjoyment of life, and pain interference with general activity. Each item 0–10. Mean score 0–10. Validated for monitoring chronic pain outcomes in primary care and palliative settings.
- Palliative Prognostic Score (PaP Score)Validated prognostic tool for estimating 30-day survival probability in advanced cancer patients referred to palliative care. Components: dyspnoea, anorexia, KPS, clinical prediction of survival, total WBC, lymphocyte percentage. Score 0–17.5.
- Surprise Question for End-of-Life PrognosisSingle-question prognostic screening tool: 'Would you be surprised if this patient were to die in the next 12 months?' A 'no' answer identifies patients who may benefit from proactive palliative and supportive care planning. Simple, validated in multiple clinical settings.
- Osteoporosis Risk Assessment Instrument (ORAI)3-item clinical screening tool to identify postmenopausal women at risk of low bone mineral density (BMD) who should be referred for DEXA scanning. Considers age, weight, and oestrogen use. Score ≥9 = refer for DEXA.
- Palliative Performance Scale (PPS)Measures functional decline in palliative care patients across 5 domains. PPS <50% associated with median survival <3 months. Guides goals of care and support planning.
- Prognostic Indicator Guidance (PIG) / Gold Standards FrameworkIdentifies patients in the last year of life using Gold Standards Framework prognostic indicators. Triggers palliative care registration and ACP.
- Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS)Patient-rated symptom burden tool in palliative care using 9 visual analogue scales (0-10 each). Total score (0-90) guides symptom management priorities.
- Opioid Equianalgesic Dose CalculatorGuides safe opioid rotation and dose conversion in palliative care using standard equianalgesic ratios. Does not replace clinical judgement.
- Noisy Breathing / Death Rattle AssessmentGrades noisy breathing from retained secretions (death rattle) in dying patients with the Back scale (Back 2001) and guides management.
- DNACPR Decision FrameworkGuides clinicians through factors informing a DNACPR (Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) decision using GMC/BMA/RCN framework.
- Five Priorities of Care (Dying Assessment)The Five Priorities of Care for the dying person (Leadership Alliance for the Care of Dying People, One Chance to Get it Right, 2014) and NICE NG31 — standards for care in the last days of life.
- IPOS — Integrated Palliative care Outcome ScaleIntegrated Palliative care Outcome Scale (Murtagh 2019): 10 physical symptoms plus 7 emotional, communication and practical items, each scored 0 (best) to 4 (worst); total 0–68. Used to track needs over time and to target the highest-scoring items.
- POS-S — Palliative care Outcome Scale (Symptom list)The 10-symptom list of the Palliative care Outcome Scale (POS-S — the physical-symptom items of IPOS). Each symptom is rated by how much it has affected the patient, from 0 (not at all) to 4 (overwhelmingly). Total 0–40.
- Palliative Prognostic Index (PPI)Predicts survival of terminally ill cancer patients (Morita 1999) from 5 weighted variables (0–15). PPI > 6 predicts survival under 3 weeks (sensitivity 80%, specificity 85%); PPI > 4 predicts survival under 6 weeks (sensitivity 80%, specificity 77%).
- NCCN Distress ThermometerSingle-item 0–10 rating of distress over the past week, including today (Roth 1998; NCCN), with a problem list. A score ≥ 4 indicates clinically significant distress and triggers further psychosocial assessment.
- Brief Pain Inventory — Short Form (BPI-SF)Short form of the Brief Pain Inventory (Cleeland & Ryan 1994). Pain severity score = mean of four 0–10 ratings (worst, least, average, now); pain interference (mean of 7 items) is rated separately.
- Gold Standards Framework Prognostic Indicator Guidance (GSF-PIG)UK Gold Standards Framework triggers for identifying patients in last 6–12 months of life. Counts the number of generic + specific indicators present.
- CARING Criteria for Palliative Care ReferralCARING prognostic index (Fischer 2006) applied at hospital admission to estimate the risk of death within 1 year and identify patients who may benefit from a palliative approach.
- Walter Index — 1-year Post-Discharge Mortality in ElderlyValidated index for 1-year mortality after non-elective hospital discharge in adults ≥70 (Walter 2001). Sums 6 weighted variables.
- Schonberg Index — 10-year Mortality in Older AdultsPredicts mortality of community-dwelling adults aged 65 and over (Schonberg 2009, US National Health Interview Survey) from 11 self-reported factors (0–31 points); validated for 5-, 10- and 14-year mortality (Schonberg 2017). Used to inform cancer-screening and other long-term treatment decisions. Developed without people with dementia or living in care homes.
- PAINAD — Pain Assessment in Advanced DementiaFive-item observer-rated pain scale for non-verbal patients with advanced dementia (Warden 2003). Each item 0–2. Total 0–10. Use during 5-minute observation including movement.
- MDAS — Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale10-item clinician-rated delirium severity scale (Breitbart 1997); each item 0–3, total 0–30. Diagnostic cut-off 13 in the original study; 7 performed best in advanced cancer (Lawlor 2000). Confirm delirium with DSM-5 criteria.