The overwhelming majority (89%) of senior palliative care doctors who responded to a survey carried out for the BMJ and Channel 4’s Dispatches think the Liverpool care pathway (LCP) is the right approach for caring for patients in their final hours, and they would choose it for themselves. However, almost three quarters (74%) think […]
Category: News
Proposal for the development of community end of Life Care: A guest post by Julian Abel
Background Over the last 45 years the hospice movement has set the standard for caring for people who are approaching the end of life. The levels of services have been developing steadily and the quality of care has been of the highest standard. An unintentional consequence of the development of end of life services […]
Do ‘humorous’ references to murder and euthanasia reflect societal beliefs about palliative care?
A recent survey of palliative care doctors published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings investigates the role that gallows humour plays in the relationships between palliative care physicians and their patients and colleagues. The online survey, developed by Lewis Cohen MD and colleagues from Tufts University School of Medicine, found that nearly three-quarters of doctors interviewed […]
Should palliative care play a role in the management and treatment of diabetes?
New research published this week in the Journal of General Internal Medicine indicates that palliative care could play an important role in the management of type 2 diabetes. The study, conducted by a team of researchers in California, analysed the symptom burden and survival times of over 13,000 diabetic adults aged 30-75. The results indicated […]
Results of the UK’s first National Bereavement Survey released
Today saw the publication of the results from the UK’s first National Bereavement Survey. The questionnaire, which was administered in November 2011, aimed to establish what the standard of end-of-life care was, as seen through the eyes of people who had lost a loved-one. The responses of over 22,000 people were collated and the results […]
The transition from childhood to adult palliative care: A time for action
Young people with palliative care needs from across the UK are today lobbying the government to change the way that the transition from childhood to adult palliative care services is handled. Currently, support for children with life-limiting conditions comes to an abrupt end at the age of either 16 or 18. Services for adults – […]
The BMJ’s new stance on assisted dying
The BMJ recently expressed its support for the notion that the UK’s leading medical bodies, including the BMA and Royal Colleges, abandon their opposition to assisted dying in favour of a neutral stance. The move comes as a recent poll undertaken by Dignity in Dying revealed that of 1000 GPs surveyed, 62% supported a shift […]
New NICE guidelines aim to address patient concerns about the use of opioids in advanced disease.
The UK’s Institute for Clinical Excellence has released new guidelines which aim to standardize the use of opioids in advanced disease pain management. It is estimated that each year in the UK some 300,000 people are diagnosed with cancer and 900,000 have heart failure. As well as this, thousands live with long-term chronic conditions such […]
The Working of an Integrated Community Palliative Care Team
Guest writers Anna MacPherson and Louise Forman of St Catherine’s Hospice, Preston, discuss the experience of working within a community palliative care team in light of recent changes to the structure of community palliative care. Community based palliative care services are growing in importance. As surveys repeatedly tell us most people want to die […]
Dialysis patients receive aggressive treatment during last month of life
A research letter published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine has reported that patients with end stage renal disease tend to receive very aggressive treatment during their last month of life. The researchers from the University of Washington analysed data on almost 100,000 Medicare patients who were treated with dialysis, and found that during […]