The move followed recommendations from the Living and Dying Well National Advisory Group, which had been examining the issue in the wake of the Neuberger review of the LCP in England.
The advisory group concluded that, when used correctly, the LCP had supported good quality care in the last days and hours of life in Scotland.
However, it also recognised that the inappropriate use of the pathway may, on occasion, inhibit the provision of high quality care, and recommended that it be phased out in Scotland over the next 12 months.
A working group will now be established to support the changes required.
Health Secretary Alex Neil said: "While standards of end of life care in Scotland are generally very high, the aim of improving care in the last days and hours of life to ensure that everyone has a dignified death is a priority for the Scottish government and NHS Scotland.
"Dr Greaves said: ‘With an aging population the old models of dementia care are not sustainable. A tsunami of frail elderly is threatening to engulf and bankrupt the NHS. Carrying on in the same way is simply not an option."
The scheme has cut waiting times for diagnosis and detection rates have soared from 30% to 100% of anticipated local cases. It has helped more patients stay independent in their own homes, and saved the NHS around £500,000 per year across a population of 280,000. The service integrates dementia care by putting consultant-led clinics in the community and pulling together end-of-life care and social care services.
A GP-led dementia service that slashed diagnosis waiting times and boosted detection rates has won an £80,000 NHS innovation prize.
GPs in England are to get £30 000 a year for taking on board the `named person` role for the elderly. http://www.gponline.com/News/article/1225160/30000-per-practice-named-clinician-role/
Read more http://www.palliativecarescotland.org.uk/content/lcp/
The discredited Liverpool Care Pathway is to be “rebranded” rather than abolished, senior doctors have said. In July ministers said the end-of-life protocals would be axed, after a damning independent review undercovered frequent and “heartbreaking” cases of patients being denied water and left desperately sucking at sponges used to moisten their mouths.
Instead, every patient would receive individual end-of-life care plans, following the review led by Baroness Julia Neuberger. However, doctors who led criticism of the pathway say new draft guidance, seen by the Daily Telegraph, outlining a replacement scheme will perpetuate many of its worst practices, allowing patients to suffer days of dehyration, or to be sedated, leaving them unable to even ask for food or drink.
“There is no indication about how patients who are in the last days of life are going to be diagnosed as such. There is no mention of a research base to improve this prediction. This was a main central concern of the Neuberger report,” he said. Any replacement scheme should be studied before being introduced, or risked simply repeating the same problems, he said.
“The Liverpool Care Pathway not only produced many instances of suspected hastening of death but also repeated instances of poor care.”
“The fact is that little seems to have changed, including the use of syringe drivers, anticipatory prescribing, use of sedation and narcotics and limitation of hydration and nutrition by a ‘best interest’ team decision.
The son of an elderly hospital patient who was 'starved to death' on the Liverpool Care Pathway has called for police to launch a murder inquiry.
Peter Tulloch believes the death of his mother, Jean Tulloch, was the result of 'negligent' and 'unlawful' care at the Western General hospital in Edinburgh.
The 56-year-old has urged police to take action after an independent medical report found Mrs Tulloch had gone without food or water for up to 30 hours in the weeks before her death.
