The provision of care at the end of life is currently considered to be global public health issue. This thesis explores prominent issues within palliative care from the perspectives of patients with palliative care needs, and also from the perspectives of professionals working within that context. Firstly, a literature review focuses on the communication experiences of patients with palliative care needs. A meta-synthesis of 15 qualitative studies exploring patients' perspectives yielded four overarching themes: 'Talking: facilitating and inhibiting factors'; 'The importance of humanitarian qualities'; 'Perceptions of autonomy within communication experiences' and 'Individual differences in preferences for honesty within interactions'. Overall the findings highlighted the complexity of the communication experiences of patients with palliative care needs. Secondly, a research paper explores palliative care professionals' experiences of unusual spiritual phenomena at the end of life. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis [IP A] was used to identify four overarching themes within the accounts of eight palliative care professionals which captured the essence of their experiences. These were: "Who are we to say what's out there?": A connection with something beyond what can be seen; "It opened up conversations"; The experience of talking about unusual experiences; "It knocked me sideways": Managing the emotional impact of these experiences; "The fact she was so accepting made it easier": The value of acceptance in relation to unusual experiences. These findings emphasise the need for palliative care services to take a proactive approach to the discussion of unusual phenomena at the end of life. Finally, a critical review presents a personal reflection on the process of researching palliative care professionals' experiences of unusual phenomena at the end of life. Specifically, this review outlines reflections on undertaking IPA, the challenges of conducting research on unusual phenomena with health care professionals, and the experience of using a reflexive journal.