Patient compliance with prescribed medication has been well researched and there is a consensus in the literature that noncompliance exists on a large scale. In the studies reviewed the level of non-compliance ranged from 38.5% to 60%, but very little of this research related specifically to palliative care patients. The present study was undertaken to ascertain the level of compliance in a group of patients who had been discharged home from a palliative care centre, and to obtain their views on taking their medication in order to identify ways in which services could be improved.