Has anyone found this 'National Conversation about Dying' ?

Several years back, the Neugerger report into the Liverpool Care Pathway called for 'a National Conversation about Dying'.

Has anybody found that conversation - does it exist ?

I ask, because I've never found any 'national' conversation about the end of our lives, within which everyone - the public [patients, families, all of us], the clinical professions [doctors, nurses, paramedics, care workers] and other professionals who might become involved [police, coroners] are all seriously talking to each other about end-of-life. And about everything that affects end-of-life: so not just 'grief counselling', but also whether the professional behaviour during end-of-life is correct or not.

I've found a few groups where people talk to each other, but that is usually sub-groups of 'the nation' talking to each other: so family carers to other family carers, or doctors to doctors, etc. And I've found some 'action days' when everyone is supposed to be able to join in: but those 'action day events' do not allow for serious discussion, so much as somewhat raising the profile of the issue.

I ask, because a recent e-mail from a bereaved relative who does 'campaign about end-of-life issues' included the following:

'How many people sit around the dinner table and (occasionally) talk about their wishes about death? And if we did, how much do we know about what choices we have for our dying moments, the days and weeks before? And even if we did want to find out where can we go? The answers lie in an all encompassing statement - there's little/no readily available information for people to dip into that isn't geared towards clinicians.'

I know - because I read a lot of it - that there is a lot of 'end-of-life guidance' written by clinicians, for clinicians 'out there' [and there are things in that guidance, which I consider to be either legally incorrect or 'objectionable']. There is also 'information geared for patients and families' - but that is written by the professionals, and tends to be both very-much over-simplified, and also, in my opinion, to contain 'legal mistakes'.

If the person who sent me that e-mail - who has, like me, 'been at it' for some years - has not found this 'national conversation about dying', and I have not found it either, I can't help but think that either we have both been 'dozy to miss it', or else it either isn't taking place, or is very well hidden from discovery ?

Has anyone, found this national conversation ?

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