§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What monitoring takes place of the use of "Do not resuscitate" instructions in National Health Service hospitals. [HL2894]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)The GuidanceDecisions relating to Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation issued by the British Medical Association, Royal College of Nursing and Resuscitation Council (United Kingdom) recommends that such decisions are subject to clinical audit. Details of such local audits are not held centrally. We intend, through a planned Health Service Circular, to require trusts to report the outcome of such clinical audits in the annual clinical governance reports of trusts; and for the Commission for Health Improvement to pay particular attention to trusts' resuscitation decision-making processes during their reviews. We have no plans for central data returns concerning resuscitation decisions.
The Government are committed to ensuring the development of best practice in resuscitation decision-making throughout the National Health Service, and the Department of Health will be issuing guidance to the NHS about this.