Grande 1999.

Study characteristics
Methods	Randomised trial, UK. 12 participants excluded from the analysis as alive at the end of the study.
Participants	Requiring terminal care: intervention group: 186 (87% with a diagnosis of cancer); control group: 43 (86% with a diagnosis of cancer); 241 participants randomised, 12 had not died by end of study and were excluded from analysis, data were collected from 229 participants. Living alone: intervention group: 21%; control group: 17% Mean age: intervention group: 72 (SD 11); control group: 73 (SD 14) Number of women: 92/186 (50%); 23/43 (54%) Survival from referral for both groups: median 11 days
Interventions	Intervention group: referred from primary or secondary care 6 qualified nurses, 2 nursing aides, a co‐ordinator (RGN level), agency staff providing 24‐hour care if required for a maximum of 2 weeks, most had Marie Curie experience. Intervention participants could also access standard care. Control group: standard care: hospital care or hospice care, with input from the GP and district nurses, Marie Curie nursing, Macmillan nursing, social services and private nursing.
Outcomes	Symptoms and support, GP visits, place of death and admission to hospital Follow‐up: 2 weeks
Notes	Funding: Elizabeth Clark Charitable Trust and the NHS R&D Primary/Secondary Care Interface Programme Conflict of interest: not reported.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Comment: 4:1 randomisation ratio (intervention:control) to ensure sufficient admissions to hospital at home. Random numbers from a random number table were used.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Comment: allocation for each referral was assigned by the researcher using a random number table and concealed in sequentially numbered, opaque, sealed envelopes.
Baseline characteristics	Low risk	Comment: demographic data similar.
Baseline outcome measurements	Low risk	Comment: not reported as place of death and mortality at follow‐up.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Comment: low‐risk place of death and mortality data obtained from the Office of National Statistics.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Comment: response rates: 144/198 (73%) caregivers, 225/228 (99%) district nurses, 194/228 (85%) primary care physicians.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Comment: all stated outcomes reported.
Protection against contamination	Low risk	Comment: Figure 1 reported in Grande 2000 indicated that none of the participants allocated to the control received the intervention.