OBJECTIVES: To assess the practicality of routine measurement of patients’ quality of life during an outpatient palliative care clinic. METHOD: The study was a prospective evaluation of palliative care services provided at an outpatient clinic at Velindre NHS Trust, Cardiff. During a one-year period of the study, patients’ self-report of quality of life was implemented into the routine care. Each patient was asked to complete the revised McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire (MQOL) in the waiting room pre-consultation. After each consultation, doctors recorded their comments on the patients’ responses to MQOL that had been helpful in their decision making and the interventions arising from that process. RESULTS: The total of 348 consultations took place during the study period; 274 consultations had the MQOL forms completed. This was accounted for 127 patients. There were 46 male and 81 female with mean age of 59 years old (range 26–85). 66 patients (52%) attended the clinic for the first time. Of these 66 new patients, 31 (47%) had a record of the MQOL on their subsequent visits. Compared with the first visits, the results show the quality of life had improved in every domain (i.e. physical symptoms, physical wellbeing, psychological and existential domains) on their subsequent visits. The overall quality of life score in particular was significantly improved during the follow-up visits (P <0.05). Considering the use of the MQOL, 101 (37%) consultations had a record of doctors’ comments on utilizing the quality of life information and the majority (95%) indicated the MQOL as being useful during consultations, particularly information related to physical symptoms, psychological and existential domains. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the practicality of quality of life assessment in clinical practice and its value as an outcome measure and monitoring tool of palliative care services in this population.