Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Mark Hendrick (Labour) on Wednesday, 9 June 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 14 June 2021. It was answered by Nadine Dorries (Conservative) on Thursday, 17 June 2021 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

DNACPR Decisions: Coronavirus

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many deaths of people with do not resuscitate orders have been attributed to covid-19 as the cause of death in the last 12 months.

Answer

The Department is clear that learning disability should never be a reason for a Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decision and that blanket DNACPR decisions for whole groups of people are completely inappropriate.

The Department does not hold data centrally on the numbers or basis for DNACPR decisions. In October 2020, the Department asked the Care Quality Commission to review how DNACPR decisions were made during the COVID-19 pandemic, including for people with a learning disability. The report, published on the 18 March, looked at how DNACPR decisions were made in the earlier stages of the pandemic. The 2020/21 General Medical Services contract Quality and Outcomes Framework now includes a requirement for all DNACPR decisions for people with a learning disability to be reviewed. The fifth annual report of the Learning Disabilities Mortality Review programme published on 10 June 2021, reported that in 2020, of the people with a learning disability who were reported as dying from COVID-19, 81% had a DNACPR decision.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
12958
Session
2021-22
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Death DNACPR decisions Coronavirus
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk