- Target:
- To send to the Daily Mail, Telegraph & other papers who have published stories recently about LCP
- Region:
- United Kingdom
Recently there has been a huge amount of negative coverage of the use of the Liverpool Care Pathway in several national newspapers.
These stories have contained numerous inaccuracies and by referring to this as the "death pathway" have caused distress to patients, families and healthcare professionals. The aim of this letter is to show the support of healthcare professionals who have used this care pathway to provide the highest standard of care for our dying patients.
For this we need the signatures of as many healthcare professionals from as many backgrounds and of as many grades as possible.
This letter will be submitted to several newspapers in order to highlight our concerns. I urge anyone signing who has been concerned by this recent coverage to inform colleagues about this so we can gain support.
My thanks go to all those who have contributed to this letter. I would want to be cared for using the principles of the Liverpool Care Pathway at end of my life and as the letter states, our patients deserve nothing less.
Over recent weeks there has been an increasing number of articles regarding the use of the Liverpool Care Pathway in end of life care.
Whilst open debate around issues surrounding end of life care should be encouraged, we have become increasingly concerned about the impact that this polarised and damaging coverage will have on the care of patients who are dying.
The Liverpool Care Pathway was designed to ensure that the highest standard of care is provided for patients who are in the last few days of their lives. It enables patients to have access to the best quality of care in any healthcare setting. This is a pathway used to care for patients, not to hasten their death as has been suggested in some recent reports. The decision to initiate this care pathway is made by the healthcare professionals in partnership with the patient and their carers and is never undertaken lightly. Such decisions would never be based on financial constraints, but always on recognition that a patient is dying and that further investigation and treatment would be futile, undignified and intrusive.
The principle of the Liverpool Care Pathway is to provide excellent symptom control for patients who are at the end of their life. It ensures that unnecessary medical interventions are not performed and instead promotes dignity in the last hours or days of life.
The care pathway highlights the importance of regular re-assessment of the patient’s condition and communication with the patient’s family or carers. If a patient’s condition improves this can be identified quickly; the care pathway can be discontinued at any time to enable appropriate treatment to be commenced.
The recent articles describing the Liverpool Care Pathway as a "death pathway" are misleading and contain numerous inaccuracies. These articles have hugely undermined the benefits which it can bring for patients. All of the healthcare professionals who have signed this letter have been involved in the care of dying patients; many of us have also cared for friends or relatives during the final days of their lives.
Both personally and professionally we therefore recognise the value of the Liverpool Care Pathway in delivering high quality, compassionate and dignified end-of-life care.
This is how we would wish to be cared for at the end of our lives and our patients deserve to be offered nothing less.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Letter in support of LCP use petition to To send to the Daily Mail, Telegraph & other papers who have published stories recently about LCP was written by Doctors in support of use of LCP and is in the category Health at GoPetition.