‘Surprise question’ puts thousands on premature ‘end-of-life’ NHS footing

‘Tens of thousands of patients are being prematurely warned they could be about to die because of a defective diagnostic method used across the NHS.
Experts have said families and loved ones are being needlessly worried after new research showed the tool over-predicted the chances of death more often than not.
The so-called “surprise question”, encourages doctors to ask themselves “Would you be surprised if this patient were to die in the next few months, weeks, days?”
A wide scale analysis by University College London found that more than half of those predicted to die within a specific time lived longer than expected.
It means that care for those patients is being moved onto a end-of-life footing earlier than necessary.’
Read more: ‘Surprise question’ puts thousands on premature ‘end-of-life’ NHS footing