Marie Curie welcomes recommendations of Liverpool Care Pathway Review
Press release published
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Marie Curie, the leading end of life care charity has welcomed the recommendations in an independent review of the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) published today (Monday). Speaking following the announcement this morning, Marie Curie’s Chief Executive Dr Jane Collins said: “The Liverpool Care Pathway was developed to spread the hospice model of end of life care into hospitals and other healthcare settings and it has enabled thousands of people to have a dignified death. But we know that not everyone is getting the high quality care that the public has a right to expect. “This report’s recommendations, if implemented in full, will radically improve the quality of end of life care and ensure there is greater consistency across the country. We will work closely with the Department of Health and with our partners in the NHS to make this a reality.” In November last year, Marie Curie called for the independent review of the LCP to be brought forward and for an action plan to be put in place to ensure improvements where care is below the highest standards. Marie Cure provides free end of life care to people in their place of choice. The charity also designs and advises on the development of services that ensure the best possible care and patient choice is at the heart of the commissioning of end of life care across the UK. Marie Curie’s Medical Director, Dr Bill Noble also commented: “We welcome this report and its findings. In my experience as a palliative care physician, the best end of life care happens when it is tailored to the individual patient and integrated with care that has gone before.” -ENDS- |
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Notes to editor
To read the full review and Department of Health press release visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-liverpool-care-pathway-for-dying-patients
About Marie Curie Cancer Care
Marie Curie Cancer Care is one of the UK’s largest charities. Employing more than 2,700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, it provided care to more than 35,000 terminally ill patients in the community and in its nine hospices last year and is the largest provider of hospice beds outside the NHS.
Funding
Around 70 per cent of the charity’s income comes from the generous support of thousands of individuals, membership organisations and businesses, with the balance of our funds coming from the NHS.
Marie Curie Nurses
The charity is best known for its network of Marie Curie Nurses working in the community to provide end of life care, totally free for patients in their own homes.
Research
The charity provides core funding for three palliative care research facilities; the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit at University College London, the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool and the Marie Curie Palliative Care Centre at the Wales Cancer Trials Unit (Cardiff University). The charity also supports palliative and end of life care research through its project grant funding streams, the Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme (administered by Cancer Research UK) and the Dimbleby Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Fund. Both research programmes aims to tackle the funding and knowledge gap in palliative and end of life care research, which in turn will benefit patients, families and carers.
The right to die in place of choice
Research shows around 63 per cent of people would like to die at home if they had a terminal illness, with a sizeable minority opting for hospice care. However, more than 50 per cent of cancer deaths still occur in hospital, the place people say they would least like to be. Since 2004 Marie Curie Cancer Care has been campaigning for more patients to be able to make the choice to be cared for and die in their place of choice.