The Universal Principles for Advance Care Planning has been jointly published today by a coalition of 28 partner organisations, in response to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) report ‘Protect, Connect, Respect – decisions about living and dying well’ (2021). Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) is pleased to be one of the 28 named organisations who have supported the development of, and contributed towards, this publication and the Ministerial Oversight Group.

RCUK is delighted that today marks a change to the school curriculum as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and awareness of the use of defibrillators (AEDs) become mandatory elements of the curriculum for schools in Northern Ireland.

RCUK welcomes the publication of ILCOR’s Scientific Statement on Public-Access Defibrillation, published in Circulation and Resuscitation, entitled
‘Optimizing Outcomes After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest with Innovative Approaches to Public -Access Defibrillation: A Scientific Statement From the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation.’

RCUK is pleased to endorse the Association of Anaesthetists clinical practice guideline for implementing advance care plans in the peri-operative period, including plans for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

RCUK’s president, Prof Andy Lockey and CEO, Dr James Cant reflect on the past year, and what we’re doing next.

RCUK is inviting the resuscitation and health and social care community, as well as people with lived experience of cardiac arrest or CPR decision making, to provide feedback on our Vision to 2030. 

We’re pleased to announce that Prof Andy Lockey became President of Resuscitation Council UK today (2 December).

RCUK will host their virtual AGM on Thursday, 2 December. Find out who will be speaking, and how you can join us for the online event.

RCUK is calling for a more evidence-based and coordinated approach to the placement of public access defibrillators (PADs) across the UK, and for their registration onto The Circuit, following analysis of current provision in England completed by the University of Warwick. The analysis found that public access defibrillators are disproportionately lacking in the most deprived areas of England, which are among the communities at the greatest risk of cardiac arrest.

Learn how you can connect your defibrillator to the Circuit, a national defibrillator network developed by the British Heart Foundation in partnership with RCUK, St John Ambulance and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.