This small volume is the 11th of 13 titles in the Policy and Practice in Health and Social Care series edited by Joyce Cavaye and Alison Petch. The series aims to provide an introduction to key topics from a primarily Scottish perspective. Jacqueline Watts's contribution has seven chapters which together provide a readable and accessible overview of some important themes in death, dying and bereavement. The book is suitable for undergraduates and other students of the health and social care professions. It provides some contextual background in terms of mortality and morbidity trends in the United Kingdom (UK), showing how these have changed rapidly in the last century, before going on to present synopses of contemporary challenges for policy and practice and some insights into the rich theoretical perspectives in this field of research and scholarship. Diversity, communication and the philosophy and practice of palliative care are overarching themes. The material on religious and spiritual aspects and on bereavement and loss is particularly interesting, and provides an excellent resource on which to base further research and study. Similarly, the interweaving of theoretical literature at various points makes for lively and thought-provoking reading. I would have liked to have seen some more case study examples: where these are used they make a valuable contribution to understanding.

The material on the ethical aspects of end-of-life care is less well developed than other aspects and the book only very briefly touches on debates about assisted dying. In so doing, it presents a rather outmoded set of categories and definitions associated with euthanasia. Similarly, it does not really grapple with the implications of the policy shift from ‘palliative’ to ‘end-of-life’ care, nor the pervasive prognostic uncertainty now commonly associated with life-limiting illness. This uncertainty means that many people never assume the status of ‘dying’ before death: as a consequence, the old model of palliative care (that was predicated on a clear transition to ‘dying’) is barely fit for purpose. However, discussion of this is perhaps beyond what should be expected of the volume. It provides a very useful guide to some key innovations in policy, especially the End of Life Care Strategy in England (Department of Health 2008) and the Scottish equivalent, Living and Dying Well: A National Action Plan for Palliative and End of Life Care in Scotland (Scottish Government 2008). Both are landmark documents insofar as they are the very first national care strategies published in the UK to be aimed at improving end-of-life, and they are driving significant changes in policy and practice.