End of Life Care
Advanced Decisions & Advance Care Planning
Doctors are bound by professional and legal obligations in end of life decisions. They may wish to be actively involved in discussing these issues and helping patients to draw up an Advance Directive or an Advance Care Plan. They may wish to witness the resultant documentation, but they are...
Care After Death
The National End of Life Care Programme has issued some Guidance for staff responsible for care after death. This work has been endorsed by the RCN and the Royal College of Pathologists and sets out principles of care that extend beyond physically preparing the body for transfer either to the...
Consent
The Guidance document produced by the GMC Consent: Patients and Doctors making decisions together, expands on Good medical practice, which says doctors need to be satisfied that they have consent from a patient, or other valid authority, before: undertaking any examination or...
DNA CPR / Allow a Natural Death Forms
Wessex LMCS believes that DNA CPR forms would be part of normal PMS/GMS. It is, however, not obligatory and visiting residential and nursing homes solely to complete paperwork for this is a poor use of limited resources. We do, however, strongly support the principle and recognise the benefits...
Donating a Body to Medical Research
The donation of the body or any of its tissue falls under the authority of the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) and is governed by the Human Tissue Act 2004 which came into force in 2006. HTA Website The HTA has a useful information document which would be useful to print out to give to your...
End of Life Care
The GMC guidance Treatment and care towards the end of life: good practice in decision making replaces the guidance ' Withholding and withdrawing life-prolonging treatments: (2002) ' and expands on the guidance in 'Seeking patients' consent: the ethical considerations (1998)' and that contained...
Information Governance - Confidentiality after Death
Access to the Health Records of Deceased Patients Note: Although the UK GDPR does not apply to data concerning deceased persons, the ethical obligation to respect a patient's confidentiality continues beyond death. The Access to Health Records Act 1990 (AHRA) provides a small group of...
InformationGovernance - Requests for Information from Dignitas
We have been made aware that Dignitas may contact a patients GP for information if that patient contacts them considering assisted suicide. How should you respond? The Suicide Act provides that 'a person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or an attempt by another to...
Message in a bottle
The Lions Message in a Bottle scheme is a simple idea designed to encourage people to keep their personal and medical details on a standard form and in a common location - the fridge. The Lions Message In A Bottle Scheme 257 Alcester Road South Kings Heath Birmingham B14 6DT You can...
Palliative Care Funding Review
The Secretary of State for Health Commissioned this Independent Review who has published its report. There are three key aims: (a) To create a fair and transparent funding system, (b) To deliver better outcomes for patients, and (c) To provide better value for the NHS. Palliative Care...
Tissue / Organ Donation
The majority of people are in favour of donation regardless of ethnicity or religious preference and generally family members are not distressed by being asked about donation, they value the opportunity to consider this option. It is important that people are given the opportunity to express...
