Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-12-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to ensure that Do Not Resuscitate orders are not assigned in the future to patients solely because they have Down’s syndrome or any other learning disability.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department expects National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts to have in place local policies on resuscitation that are based on expert professional guidance. We have commended, as a basis for local policies, professional guidance, Decisions relating to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (2014), published jointly by the British Medical Association, the Resuscitation Council (UK) and the Royal College of Nursing. The guidance is clear that any resuscitation decision must be free from any discrimination, tailored to the individual circumstances of the patient and fully documented. The use of a Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation decision solely on the basis that a patient has Down’s Syndrome is totally unacceptable.
A copy of the guidance is attached.
