It seems that being semi-retired is a
misnomer, or at least it is in my case. I seem to have less time now than I
used to. Besides helping NICE to train other Guideline Development Group
members I also seem to have got involved with the Patient Voices part of NHS
England. I think it was because of this that I heard of a conference that I
attended today. The subject of the conference "The Leadership Alliance for
the Care of Dying People" engagement.
This conference was one of a series of 12 being run in
12 different locations in England. The basic concept is that they are looking
at how to replace the Liverpool Care Pathway and are looking for the views of
patients, care-givers, care workers, and professionals as to what next. The
conferences are being facilitated by a number of organizations including
MacMillan, Marie Curie, help the hospices, and most of the locations are
hospices so obviously they weren't expecting a large turnout.
But the subject is of great importance to all patients
with a terminal condition. They really want to know what patients feel about
these plans but as yet they don't know how to get patients to attend. I was
appalled by the document that I received telling me about the events and I
couldn't forward that to this group as I felt it gave a wrong impression. The
thing I found most difficult was the title which referred to "for people
at the end of life" and accompanied this by pictures of geriatrics. As we
know from this group end of life is not confined to geriatrics.
But I still decided that this was worth me spending a
few hours at showing people that there are significant other groups of people
who should be considered in this context. I know that many of the group members
will need to think about these issues and would want to make sure that they
and/or their loved ones would be getting the best possible care at end of life.
The afternoon centered on discussing a document that
has been produced by the Leadership Alliance for the care of Dying People. This
was in response to the report produced by Julia Neuberger into what was wrong
with the Liverpool Care Pathway. Basically they have decided to throw away the
Liverpool Care Pathway and replace it with something else and they want to know
what else. They have produced a discussion document which can be downloaded
from
www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/
and you can also comment on this. The discussions from
the 12 conferences will be discussed to make sure that whatever happens there
will be no repeat of the Liverpool Care Pathway debacle.
What I found most surprising this afternoon was that
there were only 3 or 4 patients and there were 30-40 others. These others were
representatives from hospices and care organizations, many of whom have been
trained as nurses but have chosen to give up their vocation in favor of an
office job. How significant is that? The other thing that I found surprising
was that they all talked about how many of the proposals in the document were
covered by advance care directives and the fact that this plan does not really
cover what as wrong with the LCP. As they all seemed to agree the Liverpool
Care pathway was not a bad idea, it had just been misused by a number of medics
who seemed to forget that there is a need for compassion towards the patient
and the family and instead concentrated on making sure that they ticked all the
boxes so that they would not be penalized financially. But there was also a group who had read the
document and felt that this was merely another way of explaining Advanced care
Directives/Plans. I don't know about you but I have never been asked about my
preferences for end of life care, and that is despite having a long term
terminal condition, and having spent 5 days in a coronary care unit. And I
don't recall many people mentioning such directives or plans. Surely we should
all have this discussion.
Please take some time to get involved in this process
and make your views heard. It is very important that patients and carers should
make their feelings known.
Written By: Malcolm Weallans
For further information: http://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/qual-clin-lead/lac/
**Thank You Malcolm for sharing this fantastic information! This particular link is for those in the United Kingdom, although the concept is sound, no matter where we live. ~Breathing
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