New guidance published for end of life care

2010-05-31 11:41:00

The General Medical Council (GMC) has published new guidance on end of life care to support healthcare professionals in making difficult decisions about the care of terminally ill patients. The new guidance is much more comprehensive than the previous version and is aimed at all clinicians that are involved in end of life care, not just those that specialise in palliative medicine. Key areas covered in the guidance include:

• The need for doctors to weigh up the benefits of continuing or withdrawing treatment
• That it should be assumed the patient still has capacity to make decisions
• The patient’s relatives should be dealt with in a sensitive manner.

However, the charity Alzheimer’s Society has criticised the new guidance for not giving enough attention to the needs of dementia patients. Pointing out that a third of people aged over 65 will die with dementia, the charity comments: ‘People with dementia have specific end of life care needs...We need dementia-specific guidance for clinicians if we are to ensure people with dementia get the dignity they deserve at the end of their lives.’