Liverpool Care Pathway - Killing By Command

"They are a law unto themselves..." They are under financial constraint. And corners will be cut.





The financial cider apple press is putting the squeeze on the largesse.

The NICE recommendations on ACDs and EoLC are now 'good practice'.

The Policies and Procedures are written up; all the mechanisms are in place.

They want to hear how good they are and how well they are doing but it is all about window-dressing.

Regulation is not regulation. Regulatory bodies are there not to regulate but to ensure that regulation may be bypassed. The wheels will grind into motion to grind the petitioner down.

This is Orwell dosed up with a spoonful of Kafka.

This is the worst of both worlds; it is the sum of all fears.

When Left is Right and both are wrong, what's left?

Here, AOL reports on a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester which heard that there are two reasons why the Government should cut benefits for the elderly now...

Alex Wild of the Taxpayers’ Alliance is speaking -

"The first of which will sound a little bit morbid - some of the people... won't be around to vote against you in the next election. So that's just a practical point, and the other point is they might have forgotten by then," he said.

"If you did it now, chances are that in 2020 someone who has had their winter fuel cut might be thinking, 'Oh I can't remember, was it this government or was it the last one? I'm not quite sure.'"

And this is City Wire –

‘All policies which appear to give special advantages to older people as a category should be reviewed, because in financial terms alone, older people are no longer special.'

Sorry Alex, you were pipped to the post.

Andrew Harrop recommended the government review all policies that ‘appear to give special advantages to older people’ 2½  years ago.

Who’s Andrew Harrop?

One-time Labour Party candidate, Andrew Harrop was appointed General Secretary of the Fabian Society in September 2011. He was previously Director of Policy and Public Affairs for Age UK.

Well there’s a turn-up. Anything to do with becoming bed mates with that pro-euthanasia group purporting to be a charity?

What contempt they have. This is not at all 'morbid'; it is reprehensible. Out come the ACDs. This is killing by command.

Our documents now reference ACDs. Policies and Procedures reference all the the pertinent legislation such as the Mental Capacity act 2005.

Where there is financial constraint, in whose 'best interest' might best interest be? 

We are still dealing with the outcomes of the flood at our project. Yes, 'still'.

Two  months and they are now agreeing a consensus on what will not be done.

A works programme commenced to take up and replace all sub-floor, but this was halted to treat the bare boards with Halophen. Well, you might expect mould after flood water off the street engulfs the ground floor, dehumidifiers are brought in but it's left two months.

We need charity reform. We need a shake up in social housing.

I have had it said to me that "They are a law unto themselves!"

We all follow the road we follow, so shame on them and shame will come.

Pertinent reading -

Liverpool Care Pathway - Litigating The Litigants

A fire fighter who attended our flood observed the surge of water beneath the fire doors. She queried the gap and we confirmed that we are not in compliance.

Next day, we had a phone call from the local paper writing up a story. The voice said they had been informed our clients had been evacuated.

We followed policy and referred her to the press office.

She persisted. They had got the story from the fire service, she said.

We didn't take the bait.

"Whistleblowing". It's become the new buzzword of 'best practice'. But it is just that and is not what it is.

They want to hear how good they are and how well they are doing and it's just window-dressing.

They close ranks and squeeze you out.

When Left is Right and both are wrong, what's left?

Am I losing my memory in a fog of years?

There is only upwing and downwing and I know where I stand.

We are all dying; we are all on the road on that journey to our demise, our final destination. But while we are dying, first and foremost, we are living.

And life is precious… Living matters.

Additional reading -

Liverpool Care Pathway - The Sum Of All Fears

Liverpool Care Pathway - Telling It How It Is