Palliative care is increasingly recognized as an important component of quality care for cancer patients. Improving access to, and availability and quality of, comprehensive palliative care in cancer treatment is an important and ongoing global challenge. This publication focuses on radiotherapy as a major tool and gives summaries of current approaches in palliative radiotherapy and care. It describes the steps needed to enhance access to and quality of care, and to incorporate palliative radiotherapy and palliative care within an integrated multidisciplinary approach. It is hoped that this publication will be a resource for administrators, specialists and teachers working to improve the management of palliative care and radiotherapy for patients.