New approach at end of life focuses on better communication and safety.

Nurses and other healthcare professionals who fail to give dying patients oral hydration and nutrition ‘when still possible and desired’ should face misconduct charges, according to new guidance on end of life care. The Department of Health (DH) last week published a new approach to care for the dying, Priorities for Care, which replaces the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP). It was drawn up in response to Baroness Julia Neuberger’s independent review of the now defunct LCP, published in July last year. An advisory group comprising 21 organisations, including the RCN, Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and Macmillan Cancer Care, and known as the Leadership Alliance for the Care of Dying People (LACDP) prepared the new care approach on behalf of the DH. The approach focuses on fi ve priorities, including the importance of sensitive communication with