The Liverpool Care Pathway isn't a 'death panel'.
Miasima Goria
Posts: 5,188 Forum Member
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Glad to see what was a useful tool (if badly implemented) be recognised for what it was. Shame it will probably never be used again.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25757322
The distressing stories of poor care presented to the panel looking into the LCP could not be ignored.
The panel rightly laid the blame at many different doors including poor communication skills, inadequate attention to the need for food and drink, questionable decision making and insufficient training.
These have been noted before in many reports or research papers and they always deserve repeating.
And yet, the report rejected the accusation that the LCP was a means of deliberately hastening someone's death and even praised it as an effective tool.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25757322
The distressing stories of poor care presented to the panel looking into the LCP could not be ignored.
The panel rightly laid the blame at many different doors including poor communication skills, inadequate attention to the need for food and drink, questionable decision making and insufficient training.
These have been noted before in many reports or research papers and they always deserve repeating.
And yet, the report rejected the accusation that the LCP was a means of deliberately hastening someone's death and even praised it as an effective tool.
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It's what I want anyway.
The pathway when used correctly was a useful tool to ensure the best standard of care for the dying. In my opinion it was not the pathway itself which was at fault but inadequate training for those using it (particularly in hospitals) which caused it to be implemented inaccurately and badly.
We still use it, in all but name, for just the very mention of it can cause distress to patients and families. Following thorough explanation of what the pathway is and what it can and cannot do usually helps a great deal.
At the moment there is a consultation going on in the palliative care sector (both hospice and NHS) as to how we should replace this very useful tool.
Hopefully, the new pathway will continue to drive up the standard of care for the dying and just as importantly, the training in its use and implementation will be very thorough for all those who will use it.
We also still use it, we're just not allowed to refer to it by its name. Even the training session on end of life care in my trust has been renamed because the term LCP now carries such negative connotations. However, the old training sessions on the use and implementation of the LCP were very thorough, in my opinion, the palliative care nurses were excellent at imparting the need for compassion, sensitivity and high standards of care and, in a session I attended years ago, it was made clear that food and water should still be given if the patient was in a position to eat and drink
I'm sure many of the stories printed were true or had elements of truth but it's hard to believe fully anything the press writes (journalists put their own spin on any story as I have witnessed from reading press reports of events I have first hand knowledge of). The media are very powerful, influencing public perception and basically scare-mongering.
All the old paperwork used for the LCP, which amounted to about 15 pages in my trust, has been removed, which means there's currently a lot less work involved for staff when a decision is made to withdraw medical care and give comfort measures only. However, this also means that staff no longer have a care plan to guide them through the process though it does mean they have more freedom and flexibility to apply some common sense and not stick so rigidly to what the care plan 'instructed' them to do (though it was really only a guideline). I'm sure the LCP will be followed up by equally weighty and lengthy new paperwork - eventually.
And why does the paperwork always have to be more lengthy than in the past? However, in my trust we are now looking at ways to shorten & simplify paperwork - at last someone is listening to those of us who have to use it.
The only part of my local hospital I intend to be admitted to is the morgue.