Deborah Murphy qualified as a nurse in 1986 and has a background in clinical nursing leadership and management in oncology, haematology, and bone marrow transplantation and specialist palliative care. Deborah is currently the Directorate Manager of the Specialist Palliative Care Directorate at the Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Deborah is the National Lead Nurse for the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) programme, LCP Central Team UK. The programme has developed within the National Cancer Services Collaborative then within The National End of Life Care Programme in the UK and more recently has been highlighted as best practice for Care of the Dying in the End of Life Care Strategy for England.

In November 2004 Deborah became Associate Director of the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool, University of Liverpool, UK. The Institute aims to promote research that influences care of the dying to make a difference to patients from bedside to national and international policy. The LCP Central Team UK is as a key programme within the Institute portfolio.