Tag Archives: Liverpool Care Pathway

Summary of the Parliamentary & Public Affairs Committe Meeting March 2014

Chairman’s Announcements

The Chairman proposed Patricia Stoad as a member of the Committee which was unanimously accepted.

Correspondence

The chairman had received a letter from his MP about a possible replacement for the LCP. The Government will reconvene the Neuberger review to report next year. There should be international research into end of life issues, not just cancer. Dr Massimo Constantini, Regional Palliative Care Network, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitara Genoa and colleagues are willing to enter into partnership to undertake this research.

Catholic Education Service – Presentation to the Committee, Paul Barber Director

The CES is the education agency of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales. It has two functions. The first is to be an agent of the bishops collectively and to speak on their behalf to government and to assist and advise the bishops on education policy. The second is to be a service to the dioceses giving specialist advice and support for schools. The CES doesn’t run schools and can’t tell schools or dioceses what to do. The CES will have an officer in Cardiff.

Having given an historical overview, Mr Barber went on to say that the Church is now the biggest provider of secondary education (RC 10%, C of E 7%) ,but for primary the C of E provides 20% and the RC 10%. The CES is different from the other agencies in that it does no campaigning but supports an enormous infrastructure and workforce. It works quietly at maintaining relationships with the Government in a complex educational landscape now with academies involving contract and company law. This is a sensitive political area; some would like to abolish RC schools and yet they always outperform normal state schools, whatever the measure. A requirement to teach community cohesion was introduced thinking this would target faith schools – RC schools turned out to be twice as good as average on community cohesion.

Free Schools: These are legally just academies with a particular route to establishment. There are now 250 RC secondary academies. The Government has a policy of imposing a cap of 50% on religious admissions, if oversubscribed, on all new free schools. This policy reneges on the policies established in 1944 and earlier. The Bishops will not accept this and are trying to persuade the government to drop the requirement. This policy is part of the coalition agreement aimed by the Liberal Democrats at Muslim schools. In theory one can start a new voluntary-aided school – in practice there is no grant funding available.

The bishops are responsible for faith teaching in school. Catechesis is between two people who share the faith. Up to the ‘80s, a certain amount of this was done in schools. The bishops now want this to take place in the parish. RE is a rigorous academic subject; it needs to be an exam subject to be taken seriously. There used to be RC papers and we are now seeking a Catholic option in the subject at GCSE and A level. Sex education is compulsory at secondary level but not at primary – yet. Parents may withdraw their children.

 

Replies to Further Questions on Abortion

The sexual health team at the Department of Health want to relax the licencing requirements for abortion clinics so that abortions can be performed by nurses only.  A ComRes poll had found that 92% of the public felt it was wrong for a woman to have an abortion without seeing doctor.

Euthanasia of children in Belgium and Holland

There had been a debate on assisted dying in the House of Lords on 5th March. Baroness Jay wanted Kier Starmer’s guidelines to be made into statute law. The motive for assisting in suicide must be compassion, not gain. 98 cases had been reported to the DPP; half were dropped straight away. Baroness Jay had said that we have amateur assisted dying, when we should have professional assisted dying. In the Netherlands the Groningen protocol was accepted for child euthanasia. However 40 Belgian paediatricians had written that in their experience no child had ever requested death.

Summary of the Parliamentary and Public Affairs Committee 14th January 2014

Chairman’s Announcements

David O’Mahony, a CU Council Member, was suggested as a prospective member of the Committee.

Synod Questionnaire on Family Life

Elizabeth Davis, Marriage and Family Life Project Officer of the Bishops’ Conference, gave a presentation on the Synod Questionnaire. It was not a survey but a consultation on experience. The online questionnaire was aimed at reaching those who did not go to church on Sundays. Since the responses had not yet been collected it was not possible to say how many there had been. However it had been taken up with enthusiasm. Many respondents stated had struggled to be faithful to the Church’s teaching. The objective was to help with setting the agenda for the next Synod of Bishops in Rome. It should not be seen as a prelude to a change in doctrine and it was hoped from a clear statement confirming this from the Bishops.

Correspondence

A letter had been written to the Prime Minister and the Dept. of Health regarding the proposal to allow the production of embryos with two mothers and one father (hoping to prevent mitochondrial disease in the child). The Chairman had written again to a named civil servant at the Department of Health about the dangers of this procedure and the lack of an ethical framework.  He would write again to Jeremy Hunt seeking an answer to his questions.

Parliamentary Lobbying Bill

The threshold for registration has been raised from £5,000 to £20,000 in England and from £2,000 to £10,000 in Wales, following a great deal of lobbying against the original proposals. The maximum has been raised to £450,000. Any higher figure will be deemed illegal. The “restricted period” has been reduced to 7.5 months. The courts can deem organisations to be cooperating without evidence. This could be an effect free speech. It is unlikely to affect the CU, given the budgets involved.

Plight of Syrian Refugees

As a result of a papal initiative the Holy See was bringing together the parties involved to discuss humanitarian relief (to both sides), a cease fire and finally a political settlement. The meeting deplored the government’s refusal to receive any refugees. Many Syrian refugees, in particular Christians, were in great danger and some, at least should be welcomed here.

Euthanasia

The CU is on the advisory group of Care not Killing (CNK), an alliance of some 40 organisations opposed to euthanasia. Margo Macdonald MSP, has sufficient signatures to introduce the Assisted Dying Scotland bill, despite the result to the consultation being 65% against. A “trained facilitator” could assist any mentally competent adult with a terminal condition. At Westminster, the Falconer Bill is to be reintroduced with softened wording. The Lords would not normally divide on a second reading but should be encouraged to do so, on this point of principle.

The Follow-on from the Liverpool Care Pathway (LACDP)

This LACDP consultation has no recognition of the need for a research base to underpin their recommendations. There is a suspicion that doctors will resort to familiar methods of treatment. To provide an alternative, the Medical Ethics Alliance has produced a document which the chairman had sent to the minister. The backlash against the LCP came from relatives, and doctors are now more cautious about using it for fear of being sued.

House of Lords Debate on end of life care 12th December 2013

This debate was initiated by Baroness Jolly on behalf of the Department of Health proposing that GPs should nominate the 1% of patients expected to die within the next 12 months in order to enable arrangements for their care to be discussed with them. The Government wishes to save money by keeping old people out of hospital since most people prefer to die at home. There were significant practical problems with this and the existence of a “death list” is extremely unhelpful.

MEA Conference on Mental Health and Abortion 21st November 2013

The topic “Mental health reasons for abortion – are there any?” Speakers were a consultant psychologist, a consultant psychiatrist, a GP and a lawyer. The conclusion was “no, there are not” and further, the Medical Colleges concluded abortion was of no benefit to mental health; stress and anxiety were not per se a threat to mental health. However the purpose of the conference was get the message out that what happens now is a charade. Doctors without mental health training or experience go through the requisite administration without asking any questions.. However there is now disquiet about the working of the Act from the gender imbalance caused by gender based abortion. The Dept of Health said only in 46% of cases, had one or both doctors actually seen the woman. The situation in the remaining 54% was uncertain and the DoH seems to have no interest in ensuring the figures were correct. The BPAS, which performs a majority of abortions, has a policy which states any unwanted pregnancy is grounds for abortion. This explicitly contradicts the official DoH policy.  MPs must ask hard questions to press home this point and so reveal the DoH’s real policy of abortion on demand.

“Rules for Migrants are a scandal” Archbishop Nicholls

The Archbishop h had strongly condemned a Government policy which prevented a UK citizen from bringing in a spouse from outside the EU unless s/he had an after tax income of over £18,500 p.a, well above the minimum wage. This led to families being split up and children being raised without one or other of their parents. The committee was not in agreement over this policy.

Any Other Business

Ministers want to replace anti-social behaviour orders in England and Wales with injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance. One man’s annoyance is another’s free speech and it was thrown out by the Lords 346 Votes to178.  The Government’s reaction waits to be seen.

 

 

Chairman’s New Year Message 2014

Robert Rigby

Robert Rigby, Chairman

As 2013 comes to an end we can reflect on quite a year.  We have a new Pope, and, nearer home, a  new Archbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh as well as several new Bishops in various dioceses across the United Kingdom.  All, it seems, is change.  Yet there are constants.  The pursuit of the Common Good in public life remains the core focus of the Catholic Union and in this regard it has been a busy year.  Much groundwork has begun in 2013 across the Committees and I would like to mention in particular, the newly-constituted Education Committee.  This Committee will be the vanguard of the Catholic Union Charitable Trust, organising seminars and lectures on Catholic education at all levels.  Stuart Sexton brings to the Chairman’s role a wealth of experience in both education and politics and will set the Committee on a good course.

The new charitable arm of the Catholic Union, the CUCT, will allow us to develop education based projects, whilst being an additional source of income within a charitable umbrella, which has not been possible up till now.  A new website for the CUCT is under construction and will link from the main Catholic Union website.

One major issue over the past year has been the Liverpool Care Pathway and its demise, following the recommendations contained in the Neuberger Report, published last summer.  Tony Cole, Philip Howard and others worked really hard to ensure that the full facts surrounding the LCP were available and understood.  It is, however crucially important that the LCP does not come back under another guise – such as presumed consent, or something similar.  The Catholic Union will continue to work with members in both Houses during the coming year to ensure that this can be avoided, as well as raising other issues of the day which affect our Catholic way of life.

Growing our membership base continues to be a priority.  Late in the autumn of 2013, we had an inaugural talk by Mike Henderson on the CU at the end of a lunchtime Mass at St Mary Moorfields in the City of London.  We hope to build on this in 2014, with more post Missam talks planned as well as the Summer Gathering at Ampleforth (25 – 27 July), together with a drinks reception for members and friends.

In his speech at the AGM, our President Lord Brennan encouraged us to undertake more activities, as well as producing more in the way of written materials.  We will be exploring this idea in greater detail over the coming months.  This combined with the work of the Outreach Committee in sourcing new donors for the work of the Catholic Union and the Catholic Union Charitable Trust, will enable us to develop a truly national reach, with an appropriate infrastructure and development plan over the next 5 to 10 years.

The Catholic Union has a great provenance and we have an opportunity to reinvigorate its activities.  It is because of you, our members, that we are able to move things forward and as always, I encourage you to get involved at whatever point you feel able.  We live in challenging times, but times that nevertheless present an opportunity to engage in the public square for the Common Good.

Finally may I take this opportunity to wish you and your families, a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Robert Rigby

 

 

Growing Connections – the Catholic Union and Ampleforth

As announced elsewhere on the site, the Summer Gathering in July 2014 will be held over a weekend at Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire.  As a prelude to this, the most recent edition of the  Ampleforth Diary, published earlier this month, carries a profile of both the Union and current Chairman, Robert Rigby.

Ampleforth Diary December 2013

Further details about the Summer Gathering will be circulated in the New Year.