Resuscitation Council UK’s Guidelines guarantee that health and care professionals across the UK share the same knowledge base surrounding teamwork and practice.
The 2021 Guidelines contain detailed information about basic and advanced life support for adults, paediatrics and newborns, as well as information on the use of Automated External Defibrillators and other topics.
The most recent set of RCUK guidelines were released in 2021. They were distilled from the 2021 ERC Guidelines, and tailored to clinical practice in the UK.
An introduction to the 2021 Guidelines, including details of key changes.
Guidelines for achieving a gold-standard level of education in resuscitation practice for healthcare professionals and the general public.
A new section for the 2021 Guidelines which outlines data from UK studies about in- and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
A new section which outlines core ethical principles, and UK law around resuscitation. These guidelines should be operationalised in accordance with national mental capacity law.
These guidelines describe a number of system-level factors that can improve the management of cardiac arrest patients and provide best practice guidance for interventions to improve outcomes for both out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA).
Information about the confidence, knowledge and skills needed to act when someone sustains an out of hospital cardiac arrest.
Guidelines for treating adults who require advanced life support, including concise guidelines for clinical practice.
A new section for Guidelines 2021, this section covers important situations where modifications or additions to existing guidelines may be of benefit to the patient.
Guidelines on the management of patients post-cardiac arrest.
Resuscitation Council UK post-resuscitation care guidelines were updated in August 2023, in accordance with the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) guidelines on temperature control after cardiac arrest in adults.
Guidelines for healthcare professionals and the general public on giving CPR to a child in cardiac arrest.
Guidelines for treating children who require advanced life support.
These guidelines cover newborn resuscitation and the support of transition of babies at birth.
A list of the Guidelines 2021 authors, and their declarations of conflicts of interest.
The process used to produce the Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines 2021 is accredited by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
The NICE Accreditation Scheme recognises organisations that demonstrate high standards in producing health or social care guidance. NICE manages the NHS Evidence service, which provides access to authoritative clinical and non-clinical evidence and best practice through a web-based portal.
