News

Leadership alliance formed to respond to the independent review of the Liverpool Care Pathway

All patients, irrespective of whether or not they are on the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) or any other integrated care pathway, should receive high quality, compassionate care in the last days and hours of life, and their families should be supported. But this is not always the case and we must address that inconsistency.

In the report by the independent review of the LCP the review panel called for a coalition of regulatory and professional bodies to lead the way in creating and delivering the knowledge base, the education, training and skills and the long-term commitment needed to make high quality care for dying patients a reality, not just an ambition.  A Leadership Alliance for the Care of Dying People (LACDP) is being set up under the chairmanship of Dr Bee Wee, National Clinical Director for End of Life Care at NHS England, to do this.

NHS England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Department of Health (DH), General Medical Council (GMC), Health Education England (HEE), NHS Improving Quality (NHS IQ), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have already signed up to join the alliance to:

  • support everyone involved in the care of people who are dying to respond to the findings of the review;
  • be the focal point for the system’s response to the findings and recommendations of the LCP review;
  • provide guidance on what needs to occur in place of the LCP;
  • consider how best health and social sector can address the recommendations in the review about the accountability and responsibility of individual clinicians, out of hours decisions, nutrition and hydration and communication with the patient and their relatives or carers: and
  • map existing guidance, training and development, as a prelude to considering how these impact on the care of dying people and the circumstantial factors that might affect the adoption of good practice.

The LACDP will engage extensively with both professionals involved in caring for dying people as well as individuals themselves and their families and other carers to gather views and ideas on good practice in caring for someone in the last days and hours of life.

3 comments

  1. eileen Pearson (Keating) says:

    I do not see any review of the Mental Capacity Act and would feel suspicious of any review taking place where the basic problems are not even acknowledged. A lot of the difficulties in the LCP arose because doctors and consultants took decisions which were illegal according to the MCA -either they were not aware of the details of the MCA or they felt they could disregard the legality or illegality. I have had a completely horrendous experience of these decisions being taken for a member of my family and no way could I stop their decisions even though they admitted it was illegal bet they outwitted me !! I would be happy to talk about this ,I have evidence aand it is scary that it can easily be repeated over and over again regardless of the reviews!! I really wish people like myself were included in these reviews so I could put forward the deceitful ways my sister was put on the LCP for 15 days having already survived 4 months she was previously recommended for it . It was only stopped because I showed them how it was illegal but they finally outwitted me and s my relative finally died alone because they wouldn’t tell me they had put her on the LCP.

  2. Roger Goss says:

    We hope you will involve us in thjis project We worked with the LCP team and warned them about rolling it out acrosss the whole NHS.

  3. Susan Morris says:

    This is most welcomed by the Natural Death Centre charity. Offering support and advice regarding Funerals at the end of life to the dying and their families /carers and after death would increase good practice. We would value the opportunity to assist.

    Susan Morris, Trustee
    The Natural Death Centre Charity, Registered Charity No: 1091396

    The Natural Death Centre is an educational charity which sees death as a natural part of life. Founded in 1991, it is committed to supporting cultural change and is working towards a situation where all people are empowered in the process of dying, and organising a funeral.