End-of-life care requires cultural humility and social justice. Death, dying, and grief are deeply social and relational events shaped by human history. Around 90% of people in the UK will need palliative care in the context of an aging and ethnically diverse population. White, English-speaking and disadvantaged people are more likely to receive early and coordinated palliative care according to their preferences. People from ethnic minorities often face poor access, insufficient communication and unmet spiritual and social needs. Only one in five registered palliative medicine doctors in the UK is from an ethnic minority background, which is less than 41% of all NHS consultants and less than in other specialties. This structural reality affects the dominant values and norms in models of care. The UK's narrow, Eurocentric and medical view of end-of-life care is inadequate.