The LACDP was established following the independent review of the Liverpool Care Pathway to take forward the review’s recommendations and lead work in improving care for people at the end of their lives and their families.
The alliance is chaired by Dr Bee Wee, national clinical director for end of life care at NHS England, and members include around 20 national organisations, including NHS England, the Care Quality Commission and NICE, as well as number of royal colleges and professional associations and representatives from palliative and end of life care charities.
This week the alliance published proposed advice for health and social care practitioners involved in looking after people in the last days of life, in response to the review’s recommendation that “the use of the LCP should be replaced within the next six to 12 months by an end of life care plan for each patient.” It is this proposed advice which the alliance is now asking for feedback on.
Encouraging the use of personalised palliative care plans is central to the proposed advice, but the advice also outlines 10 outcomes, which would act as the foundations for good end of life care.
As Bee Wee explains in a recent blog post: “Instead of replacing the LCP with another tool, we want these outcomes to act as the ‘ground rules’ for care in the last days of life. If we can agree these ‘ground rules’, then we can also match guidance, education and training to make sure that this care can really happen on the ground, whether this takes place in hospital, care homes, at home or elsewhere.”
A 26-page engagement document outlining these proposals is available from the NHS England website, and feedback can be sent via the website until 6 January 2014.
In addition, 12 workshops are being held across the country in October and November. Many of these workshops are already fully-booked for professionals, but there are some spaces for members of the public. Further details are available on the NHS England website.
Following this engagement exercise, LACDP will issue formal clinical advice in February 2014, taking into account all feedback received. This advice will also inform inspection frameworks used by the regulators of professionals and health and social care organisations. The LACDP is also planning on producing a lay version of the clinical advice for patients, their families and carers, which will focus on what they should expect and what they should do if they feel the care is not meeting those expectations.
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