The Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) is a UK care pathway covering palliative care options for patients in the final days or hours of life. It has been developed to help doctors and nurses provide quality end-of-life care.
The Liverpool Care Pathway was developed by Royal Liverpool University Hospital and Liverpool's Marie Curie Hospice in the late 1990s for the care of terminally ill cancer patients. Since then the scope of the LCP has been extended to include all patients deemed dying.
While initial reception was positive, it has been heavily criticised in the media in 2009 and 2012 and presented as way to prematurely kill senior citizens who cost the NHS too much money.
In 2012, it was revealed that just over half of the total of NHS trusts have received or are due to receive financial rewards to hit targets associated with the use of the care pathway. These payments are made under a system known as “Commissioning for Quality and Innovation” (CQUIN), with local NHS commissioners paying trusts for meeting targets to “reward excellence” in care.
Read more about Liverpool Care Pathway For The Dying Patient: Aims, Assessment, Financial Inducements To NHS Trusts
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