Great Western Hospital, which has been operating the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway system to ensure a dignified death for older people since 2010, does not record any complaints it may have received.
The hospital has adopted the system on “around 1,000 people” in that time, a spokeswoman revealed in answer to question posed by Marlborough News Online.
Asked how many complaints the hospital has received, in particular any where relatives were not informed of the procedure taking place, she replied: “We do not record this data.”
The questions we tabled following public concern in cases where relatives were not informed that their aged parents/relatives were subject to LCP.
Norman Lamb, the Care and Support Minister, has declared that he is aware of too many cases of patients dying on the pathway process while their families were told nothing about the withdrawal of potential life-saving treatment.
“This is simply unacceptable,” he said, announcing a NHS inquiry to examine how hospitals have received millions of pounds to implement the care of the dying system.
He said that the inquiry would “consider the value of locally set incentives, and whether they are leading to bad decisions on practice.”
Asked what total sum has been paid to Great Western Hospital medical staff for using the system, a hospital spokeswoman answered: “As an acute (hospital) trust, medical staff are not given any financial incentives for using this tool.”
Nevertheless, the Swindon-based hospital, which serves patients from the Marlborough area, is welcoming the review ordered by Minister Lamb.
In a statement, Julie Marshman, the hospital’s senior matron, told Marlborough News Online: “We welcome this review and are fully behind the drive to ensure the LCP is used appropriately and as the tool it is designed to be, which is to bring the best hospice care into a hospital setting.”
“The LCP is designed to provide choice and dignity at the end of life and we carry out regular audits of the LCP to see ways we can improve communication with families at what is a very difficult time for them.”
“We look forward to the outcome of the review to see what it tells us about how we can provide even better care at the end of life.”
The hospital does carry out regular audit checks on pathway cases. Marlborough News Online has requested information on the last two audits carried out and is seeking clarification that no data is recorded as to any complaints or claims for compensation that the hospital may have been received.
A subsequent statement from the hospital spokeswoman said: “We do report complaint figures and themes to the Trust Board on a monthly basis. Levels of complaints on LCP are low, therefore there aren’t specific reported figures.”
The spokeswoman added that she was unable to provide the latest two audit figures requested and that Marlborough News Online needs to contact the hospital’s Freedom of Information team to obtain the information, but no explanation has been received as to why this information is not openly available.
Medical critics have claimed there is no “scientific method” of predicting when death will come, suggesting that the pathway process amounts to a “self-fulfilling prophecy”, too many patients dying before they should.
The suggestion being made is that the pathway system has been implemented as a way of freeing up the beds hospitals have available at any time.
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