Category Archives: health

Doctors to launch investigation into Liverpool Care Pathway

Doctors are to investigate whether the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway, which is supposed to alleviate suffering, is actually being used to deliberately hasten death.

Hundreds of elderly people are being neglected in NHS hospitals

11:27AM BST 24 Oct 2012

Palliative care doctors are preparing to open an investigation in concerns that the Liverpool Care Pathway is being used to deliberately hasten the death of elderly and terminally-ill patients.

The Association for Palliative Medicine, representing over 1,000 doctors working in hospices and specialist palliative care units throughout the country, is going to carry out research to see if the LCP is operating as a “euthanasia pathway”.

‘I think it’s amazing how committed care staff are, who we don’t deserve to have’

Pay concerns are leading to around 200 home carers used by a council to look after vulnerable people to leave their jobs each year.

Richard Wheeler Tuesday, October 23, 2012
7:00 AM

Norfolk County Council spends £34m a year on using 25 main agencies to provide care to around 5,800 older and disabled people in their homes.

But people who use the service have raised concerns about the quality and continuity of the care they receive, due to staff leaving on a regular basis.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt visits Norwich dementia unit

 

The reality of living with and caring for someone with dementia is extremely tough, and Thorpe St Andrew pensioner Maurice Bartle was among carers who told health secretary Jeremy Hunt more about the difficulties they face when he visited Norwich yesterday.

Kim Briscoe, Health correspondent Saturday, October 20, 2012
6:30 AM

Jeremy Hunt talking to dementia carer Maurice Bartle at Hammerton Court in Norwich. Photo: Bill Smith Jeremy Hunt talking to dementia carer

The 72-year-old lives in South Hill Road with his wife Shirley, also 72, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s two years ago.

Mr Bartle, a retired maintenance electrician, said: “At the moment we are going through a difficult patch. The wife has got a bit of a rejection of drugs and of me sometimes.”

The pair visit Hammerton Court’s day centre one day a week and Mr Bartle said he valued being able to meet other carers.

The £13m unit, in Bowthorpe Road, has 36 bedrooms and also houses the Norfolk Dementia Care Academy – which aims to be a centre of excellence in training staff and carers to look after people with the illness.

He said: “I have found it ideal, but it’s not for long enough and I wish we could come for longer.

“I have found it very informative and it’s given me a lot of extra information I wasn’t aware of until I came here.”