Age Scotland calls for Scottish DNACPR inquiry

Age Scotland has written to Healthcare Improvement Scotland calling for an investigation into the use of DNACPRs during the Covid pandemic.

The move follows the publication of a damning report into the use and practice of DNACPRs by the care watchdog in England.

The report by the Care Quality Commission in England found that the human rights of more than 500 patients may have been breached when Do Not Attempt Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) orders were imposed without discussion with the person or their families.

Last year Age Scotland wrote to the Scottish parliament's health and sport committee calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the use of the orders, after receiving calls from older people and their families who received calls from their GPs asking them to agree to a DNACPR and patients who discovered completed paperwork in their hospital discharge notes without their knowledge.

Brian Sloan, chief executive of Age Scotland, said:

"We know from calls to our helpline that a number of older people and their families in Scotland have been very concerned and angry about the way DNACPR decisions were applied to them in the past year.

"We heard from over 60s who considered themselves to be in good health receiving an unexpected call from the GP asking them to agree not to receive medical intervention if their heart stopped beating or their breathing stopped. They were suspicious that they were targeted simply because of their age and left feeling that their lives were less valued.

"We heard from families of care home residents who were upset to learn that their loved one was now covered by a DNACPR without any consultation and from people who discovered the completed forms in their hospital discharge notes, with no knowledge of having agreed to it.

"There are considerable questions about whether individual human rights were breached when DNACPR decisions were made without discussion or knowledge.

"Today's report by the Care Quality Commission appears to show that there was an unorthodox use of DNACPRs among older people and those living with disabilities in England, particularly at the start of the Covid pandemic amid concerns that the NHS could be overwhelmed as the virus spread.

"We believe there are numerous examples of the same thing happening here in Scotland, which is why we are calling on Healthcare Improvement Scotland to conduct its own investigation, as their counterparts in England have.

"We want to know exactly what happened, how many people had DNACPR decisions made without their knowledge and whether there was a criterion for people approached, such as age or shielding status.

"DNACPRs have an important place in anticipatory care planning but it appears that the correct procedures and appropriate conversations were not happening, giving older people the impression they had been cast aside without being given a fighting chance.

"This issue understandably has caused a great deal of alarm and upset to older people and their families, during what was already an extremely challenging time, and that is unacceptable.

"It is now vital that older people and their families get cast-iron guarantees that this practice is applied correctly and with compassion going forward."

 

You can read the full text of Brian Sloan's letter to the chief executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland here