The ending of the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway policy, the now-discredited end-of-life care policy, is a welcome injection of clarity into a very sensitive and difficult area.

The simple fact of the matter is that this care pathway should never have been brought into use in the first place, as it effectively incentivised the withdrawing of treatment for patients believed to be nearing the end of their life.

While it is central tenet of our With Respect...Campaign that the elderly should be treated with dignity in their old age – and in some cases afforded a dignified death if that is their wish – the idea that hospitals had permission to withdraw treatment at their own discretion, sometimes without the consent of the family, at the same time as receiving payments for emptying beds, was, quite simply, outrageous.

And because of that, we called for the care pathway to be scrapped when it first came to light at the end of last year.

Any scheme like this is fraught with difficulties, not least of which is the possibility that the decision is taken prematurely, and there has been some evidence nationally that this has happened, and when relatives have been made aware their loved one was on the pathway, they have intervened, and the patient has made a full recovery.

The decision to replace this dangerous policy with individually tailored end-of-life plans, which presumably will be agreed in full consultation with patients and their families, is a very sensible and welcome one.

This will allow all concerned to make fully informed decisions about the care they receive – and give those patients who choose not to receive care the right to a dignified and managed end of their lives.