The demise of the Liverpool Care Pathway: should we ban the highway code because of bad drivers?

Abstract

The Neuberger report failed to show that the Liverpool Care Pathway was the cause of poor end-of-life care and made it the scapegoat for poor communication and faulty decision-making. The report's discrediting of a quality assurance mechanism that had the potential for improvement is a disservice to dying patients. Several of the report's recommendations are puzzling, but two consequences of the report, an excellent review of care pathways and a recommendation to establish a national end-of-life coalition, have the potential to improve care of the dying individual.

Keywords: Liverpool care pathway; Neuberger report; care pathways; end-of-life care; older people; quality assurance.