Liverpool Care Pathway update... (October, 2007)

Progress has been steady with the implementation of the Liverpool Care of the Dying Pathway (LCP) in the Manawatu region. So far this internationally recognised gold standard for care for people in the last days of their life has been implemented in three aged residential care facilities and four wards at Palmerston North Hospital.

Word has also just arrived that funding has now been approved through Mid Central District Health Board for further implementation over the next two years. In part this came from a direct request to the Minister of Health, Pete Hodgson, during his recent visit to Arohanui Hospice. This will mean the benefits the LCP brings will be available in more places of care across our region, including people's own homes.

A key member of our project team, Amanda Taylor, has sadly now returned to the United Kingdom. However her replacement, Dianne Boon, has already established her self in her new role through the recent successful implementation of the pathway in Wards 26 and 28 at Palmerston North Hospital. Dianne is an experienced hospice nurse with post-graduate qualifications in palliative care.

The success of this project so far is a testimony to our region's clinical and support staff in both hospital and community settings, who in the midst of often very heavy and demanding workloads, commit themselves to ensuring that the imminently dying and their families/whanau, receive high quality care.

Picture: Dianne Boon (LCP Facilitator) with Folole Fai, Charge Nurse Ward 26.