In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group of experts who care for the terminally ill claim that some patients are being wrongly judged as close to death.

Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away.

But this approach can also mask the signs that their condition is improving, the experts warn.

As a result the scheme is causing a “national crisis” in patient care, the letter states. It has been signed palliative care experts including Professor Peter Millard, Emeritus Professor of Geriatrics, University of London, Dr Peter Hargreaves, a consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Luke’s cancer centre in Guildford, and four others.

“Forecasting death is an inexact science,”they say. Patients are being diagnosed as being close to death “without regard to the fact that the diagnosis could be wrong.

“As a result a national wave of discontent is building up, as family and friends witness the denial of fluids and food to patients."

The warning comes just a week after a report by the Patients Association estimated that up to one million patients had received poor or cruel care on the NHS.

The scheme, called the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), was designed to reduce patient suffering in their final hours...

In 2007-08 16.5 per cent of deaths in Britain came about after continuous deep sedation, according to researchers at the Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, twice as many as in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Health cuts likely deep

By Derek Spalding, Daily NewsSeptember 2, 2009

The latest B.C. budget maintains a commitment to increase health-care spending, but not enough to avoid service reductions in many communities.

Ministry of Health funding will increase nearly 18% in the next three years, reaching $15.7 billion by 2011-12. Medical Services Plan premiums will jump 6% on January 2010, the first hike since 2002.

The increase will equate to a maximum of $3 a month for single people or $6 per family.

The Hospital Employees' Union was quick to criticize, saying that health authorities will have to absorb the cost of MSP premium hikes. And, as demand on health services is expected to grow faster than funding, the province's health authorities are slashing spending to balance their books.

Repeated requests to speak with Vancouver Island Health Authority CEO Howard Waldner or any management staff were rejected on Tuesday. Communication staff members said details of the authority's budget will not be released for two more weeks, despite an earlier projection for the end of August.

Other health authorities have already revealed their plans. The Fraser Health Authority expects to cut surgeries, seniors' programs and services for the mentally ill to make up a budget shortfall of up to $160 million. This shortfall comes, despite a $96-million increase in base funding from the provincial government.

The head of Health Sciences Association of B.C. attacked the government's budget. President Reid Johnson said "British Columbians, who rely on our health care system, will pay more for less."

Health authority budget cuts will reduce access to services, Johnson explained. "In July, Health Minister Kevin Falcon delivered an edict to health authorities to slash their budgets. Those cuts will result in dramatic service reductions - including diagnostic services like lab, X-ray, MRI, ultrasound and nuclear medicine," Johnson said.