Poor Care

Requests for euthanasia and assisted suicide are extremely rare when patients’ needs, including physical, social, psychological and spiritual needs, are properly met. Building on the excellent tradition of palliative care that we have in this country and making palliative care more readily accessible to all who need it are of the greatest importance, and poor practice must be identified and improved. The cost of living crisis has seen many hospices forced to cut beds, services and jobs, at a time when King’s College London estimates 100,000 die in the UK every year without access to needed palliative care, and Marie Curie estimates that 300 a day die in some kind of poverty. Covid-19 saw new concerns raised over the inappropriate imposition or urging of DNACPR orders.

Concerns relating to to a current care issue are often best put through your GP, who will best understand the personal and local factors in the case, and who is best placed to make contact with the necessary individuals or bodies. Complaints regarding poor care should, according to the seriousness and circumstances of the case in hand, be directed to the relevant employer or health trust, to the General Medical Council (regarding doctors), to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (regarding nurses and midwives) or to the Care Quality Commission. You can also seek to bring further attention to instances of poor care by contacting the Department of Health, your MP or Members of the House of Lords.