Interactive Information Pack on DNACPR
During the COVID pandemic, Learning Disability England was really pleased to work with member organisation Turning Point to quickly develop a resource to help people with learning disabilities, families and support workers challenge DNACPR decisions that they had concerns about.
DNACPR stands for Do Not Attempt CPR. CPR is a method used by medical professionals to restart someone’s heart if it stops beating.
During the COVID pandemic we saw more people with learning disabilities getting DNACPR decisions put on their files, when they didn’t know about it, hadn’t been asked or listing ‘learning disability’ as a reason to have one.
This is very bad practice, and we were wanted to help people raise concerns when they didn’t want a DNACPR
Along with Turning Point we wrote the original DNACPR resource quickly to help people faster, so we didn’t have time to coproduce it or get any input from people with learning disabilities at the time.
We know the DNACPR resource helped a lot of people during the COVID pandemic but it needed to be updated because we know the problem hasn’t gone away.
Research that the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) commissioned in 2023 said more action is needed to improve DNACPR processes and decisions. Read the British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) report here.
We worked with self-advocates, family members, support workers and experts to make sure the information pack was accurate, accessible and engaging. Advice was also provided by academic specialists, the National Mental Capacity Forum, CQC and NHS England.
Turning Point Chief Executive Julie Bass said:
“People with learning disabilities and autistic people have the same rights as anyone else to be fully involved in decisions about their own lives, including in matters of life and death.
“We are proud to have worked alongside Learning Disability England to create this vital information pack that give self-advocates and families access to the relevant information to make an informed decision on DNACPRs.”
