FURY erupted over the NHS?s ?pathway to death? care regime yesterday after it emerged hospitals are PAID millions to place patients on the scheme.
They have raked in at least ?12.4million in ?rewards? thanks to the Liverpool Care Pathway.
Patients deemed close to death have treatment withdrawn under the scheme and are denied food and water.
But a fresh row has emerged over claims the cash payments reward hospitals for hastening patients? deaths.
Call ... minister Norman Lamb
And yesterday Health minister Norman Lamb called a meeting of doctors and patients? groups to discuss mounting concerns.
Some patients and families said doctors did not even consult them first. Others said they RECOVERED after demanding to be taken off it.
Tory peer Baroness Knight said: ?One man actually rang the police and asked, ?Let me get some water?. That can?t be right.?
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed up to 90 per cent of terminal patients are on the pathway at some hospitals.
Some 85 per cent of trusts in England have adopted it. Of those, nearly two-thirds have had or will get a ?reward?.
The Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Trust in Berkshire received more than ?1million over two years.
Bradford Teaching Hospitals qualified for ?490,000 over two years after doubling the number dying on the pathway to 51 per cent.
Dr Gillian Craig, a consultant in geriatrics, called the incentives ?shocking?. She said: ?You can?t pay people to use a protocol everybody knows to be lethal.?
Mr Lamb said it was ?completely wrong? if patients? families were not informed.
He added; ?I am concerned to hear of cases where they have not been properly involved. I want to hear where things have gone wrong and address that.?
He also insisted incentive payments are nothing to do with central government and are paid by local NHS chiefs.
The Department of Health said: ?We don?t centrally fund any payments for use of the LCP, but local areas may do so to improve the care given to people in their last days.?
f.allen@the-sun.co.uk
Thomas James
THOMAS, who had stomach cancer, died after taking sedatives a nurse said would ?calm him?, say his family.
Stomach cancer ... Thomas James
Roland Hoskins
The 90-year-old passed away ten days later on October 8 at home near Braintree, Essex.
His family believe a nurse put him on the pathway without consulting them.
Patricia Greenwood
PATRICIA is still alive because her family defied doctors? orders ? and gave her water through a straw.
The 82-year-old was given two days to live and had feeding tubes removed ? but she made a remarkable recovery. Son Terry, 57, was ?livid? at staff in Blackpool?s Victoria Hospital.
He said: ?I fed her for more than an hour with a straw.?
Patricia said: ?I wasn?t ready to go.?
Old 'Urged to refuse CPR'
EXCLUSIVE
By EMMA LITTLE, Health and Science Editor
DOCTORS have been accused of pressuring healthy elderly patients into agreeing not to be resuscitated if they suddenly collapse.
Pensioners in their 90s have been summoned to surgeries and told to sign a ?DNR? form. Some GPs are said to have listed the potential dangers of resuscitation ? such as brain damage ? to influence decisions.
They are following a system called the Gold Standard Framework ? part of an umbrella of schemes such as the Liverpool Care Pathway.
One relative, who did not wish to be named, said: ?It is distressing for older people and their families. Why is the NHS asking things like this, is it to save money, for financial gain??
A Department of Health spokesman said: ?Sometimes resuscitation can lead to an undignified and traumatic death. By discussing it with the patient beforehand, doctors can find out the patient?s wishes.?
One independent woman of 99 ? two weeks off her 100th birthday ? was called in and asked if she wanted to be resuscitated. Her daughter had accompanied her.
When she said she did, the GP listed the potential problems. The woman said she understood but the GP tried again to dissuade her. She gave the same reply ? and the GP asked the daughter to ?have a word?.
A complaint was made and the practice manager apologised.
The woman?s granddaughter told The Sun: ?It is an outrageous way to treat someone. There was no sense of care or dignity. It is beyond belief.?
myView
By MICHELLE MITCHELL, Director AGE UK
ENDING a long life with a dignified death is something that we all wish for.
We must get better at talking about end-of-life care. Waiting until the last minute is not the right time.
We believe that more training and support is needed to help all health professionals talk about these difficult issues in the right way.
Doctors have a moral duty to help us do all that is necessary for a good death.
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