At our End of Life Care meeting this week, we were all very heartened to see continued improvements in compliance with DNACPR requirements.  Only a couple of years ago, it was the norm for relatively few of these decisions to have been communicated with either the patient or their family (there was documentary evidence in only about 25-30% cases).  Last month’s results show this figure to be 92%!

Over the past few years, we have worked hard to deliver education, guidance and support to clinical teams on this issue, and I am well aware that many doctors continue to find it a stressful part of their role.  These figures show that we are getting much better at keeping the patients at the centre of all that we do, including at the end of life, when sensitive communication remains crucial.

There will undoubtedly be further challenges, and these data relate only to instances where an appropriate DNACPR decision has been made and documented.  This is an area in which we can do better.  We are working to create a template for use with our EPR which will further assist staff in this area.  I would like to thank everyone who has helped in delivering education, and remind you all of a helpful e-tool on making DNACPR decisions (with voiceover from the playwright Alan Bennett, no less!) which is on the End of Life Care button in clinical tools (which takes you to this page).

Keep up the good work!

Mary