John Cook

“My concerns relate to the DNA CPR form coloured lilac. It is inevitable that queries will occasionally arise as to the validity of the form and related matters and by their very nature these are likely to be urgent. Although this particular Case Consultant who issued the form was reasonably clear there was no indication to which hospital or institution he worked for. It would be convenient if the name of the hospital were incorporated in the form, with a telephone number.”

“Under Section 3 headed Review there is "Decision valid to date of discharge from hospital". I understand that this is an unusual form of wording. Normally an expiry date would be specified which seems to me to be good practice, however, once an expiry date has been reached and if there is no renewal, it seems to me that to avoid confusion, it would be better if the form were retrieved and clearly marked 'Cancelled', 'Expired' or some similar wording. In this particular case, given the wording used”

“it should never have left the hospital. In this particular case, there was failure to read and/ or understand the wording used and those attending recluded that the fall-back position was not to attempt resuscitation when the opposite was the correct interpretation. The difficulties were compounded by the quality of English spoken by some concerned but this is not uncommon and should be allowed for. Having said this, I am satisfied that these failures of communication did not affect the outcome”