A DAILY Echo investigation can today reveal the facts behind a controversial system of care intended the ease the final hours of patients close to death.

Critics have branded the Liverpool Care Pathway as “euthanasia by the back door” and say people are being starved and dehydrated to death in hospitals across the UK as a result.

The biggest concerns centred on disturbing claims that loved ones went on the pathway - which can involve withdrawal of food and fluids - without their consent and that some were not dying.

But those on the frontline in Southampton are angry that a pathway designed to make a patient's death as peaceful as possible has been “demonised” unfairly.

University Hospital Southampton (UHS), which runs Southampton General Hospital, Princess Anne Hospital and the Countess Mountbatten House hospice, was one of the first waves of trust's to implement the LCP five years ago as they aimed for better care for those in their last hours of life.

Carol Davis, lead consultant in palliative medicine, has defended the system and revealed how negative publicity has led to doctors and nurses becoming too anxious to bring up the subject with concerned relatives.

She fears the myths surrounding the LCP are stopping people from getting the appropriate care they need in their final hours.

Read the full report here.