On the Dying Matters website we read that GPs are the gate-keepers to health services in England. `If you do not plan community support for a dying patient, he or she will end up in crisis using emergency services.`
So in order to prevent these frail elderly from clogging up the system and costing the NHS a fortune it would make good economic sense to find the one percent of patients that statistics show die each year. Having identified them, patients can then be encouraged to have those sensitive conversations. Most will say they would prefer to die at home. It does not matter that many elderly will be shuffled off to care homes against their will - we`ll still call that a `home.` Let them die there.
Having found the GP`s 1% we can put theire names on a register and spread the information around the community. That includes the ambulance service who do not need to bother responding to emergency calls or giving these patients emergency treatment. After all, they`re on the register; they`re dying - maybe - and they wanted to die at home. So let them get on with it.
According to the website: `Caring for a patient right through to the end-of-life can be one of the most satisfying aspects of medicine.` !!
In other words GPs should not feel uneasy about what they are doing. After all, it`s satisfying.
Here is an example of an Ambulance Service which is prepared to deal with the frail elderly:
WMAS maintains an End of Life register for patients in Worcestershire to ensure that ambulance crews are aware of patients who are at the end of life and the arrangements that have been made between clinicians and patients. This means that patients’ wishes for their treatment are respected. [They may wish to die at home. Do not rescucitate or have guardians doing the `wishing` for them if someone says they lack capacity !! ] HERE
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