Member News
By Tony Grew - 1st June 2011
A group that advocates for greater end of life choices has welcomed a new end of life charter drawn up by the The Royal College of General Practitioners and Royal College of Nursing.
GP surgeries in England will be asked to display the charter, which sets out seven steps to ensure that people have a comfortable death with appropriate medical, emotional and spiritual support.
Dignity in Dying said the charter addresses the issue of promoting and supporting patient choice at the end of life to ensure that independence, dignity and sense of personal control can be maintained.
Davina Hehir, Head of legal strategy and policy, said:
"Both Dignity in Dying and its charity partner Compassion in Dying support the principles contained in this charter and call for them to be properly embedded in practice through training, promotion and research.
"One of the key principles in the charter concerns the recording of a patient's end-of-life decisions.
"There are already tools in place (Advance Decisions and Lasting Power of Attorney) which allow an individual to document, in writing or with a named person, their medical treatment preferences should they lose mental capacity at the end of life.
"However, neither is widely used by the general public and there is no formal system for recording Advance Decisions in medical records or in an electronic system.
"This means that when the information is needed it is often not available and patient’s wishes may not be acted upon. The charter provides an opportunity to develop such a system and empower patients further.
"There have been recent developments to train both doctors and nurses in having end-of-life conversations which needs to continue. Similarly, spending on palliative and end-of-life care should be sufficient to support the charter."
A health department spokesman said:
"GPs and nurses have a vital role in providing high quality, compassionate end-of-life care, and that is why we welcome this End of Life Patient Charter.
"Progress is being made in improving end-of-life care, but we know more needs to be done and that is why we are modernising the NHS to improve training and ensure best practice is embedded across the NHS."
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