Jacqueline Laing & Phil Charlesworth discuss the implications of the Neuberger Review of the Liverpool Care Pathway
The publication of the government-commissioned independent review of the Liverpool Care Pathway (15 July 2013) raises grave concerns about the treatment of patients in hospitals, hospices and care homes in the UK. The report confirms what critics of the Pathway, both professionals and family members, have been claiming for years. Indeed it was Freedom of Information Act 2000 requests performed by enterprising journalists that revealed the staggering increase in numbers of patients dying on the Pathway after the 2008 National Strategy incentivised the Pathway to the tune of millions of pounds.
Culture of death?
One hundred and thirty thousand patients a year are dying on the Pathway. Many hospital trusts were paid financial incentives for achieving Pathway uptake targets of two thirds of patient deaths. The report highlighted the grief of families introduced to this culture of death and the lack of compassion of medical professionals using the Pathway, often at a time when family members thought the patient was not dying and often without
