Launch of Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment (ReSPECT) process in LLR.
ReSPECT is a national initiative being implemented by the Resuscitation Council and Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland Health and Social Care has signed up to the process and will be launching this on the 1st January 2020.
It has long been recognised that planning ahead for people with additional health needs and long term conditions who are at risk of sudden deterioration can improve patient experience. These wishes can be recorded and communicated using different methodologies. One of these is the ReSPECT form.
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland is implementing ReSPECT as a system wide approach to ensure we respond appropriately to an individual’s needs and wishes in an emergency situation.
The ReSPECT process creates a summary of personalised recommendations for a person’s clinical care in a future emergency in the event that they do not have capacity to make or express choices at that time. Such emergencies may result from deterioration as a consequence of a long term illness or a sudden unexpected medical event such as a major stroke. The process is intended to respect both patient preferences and clinical judgement in the spirit of shared decision making. Following discussion with the patient, the agreed realistic clinical recommendations are recorded, including a recommendation on whether or not CPR should be attempted if the person’s heart and breathing stop.
Advance Care Plans are a more comprehensive, holistic plan. The intention is not to replace these but to capture a short summary of clinical information and decisions crucial to healthcare professionals attending to the patient in the event of an emergency when the patient may not be capable of expressing their wishes. The decision about the appropriateness of medical treatment ultimately lies with the treating clinician. A patient cannot demand a treatment, however, they may wish to decline investigation, intervention, admission, ITU transfer, CPR etc.
From the January 2020, clinicians in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland will no longer be completing the current DNACPR form and will instead complete a ReSPECT form. However, the current DNACPR forms will remain valid until no longer required or are replaced by a ReSPECT form. It is very important to recognise that the ReSPECT form captures much more information than just a decision about resuscitation and a patient may have a ReSPECT form and may still be for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Further information on the ReSPECT process can be found at www.respectprocess.org.uk or please contact the Chair of the ReSPECT Task and Finish Group for Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland Mr John Jameson at john.jameson@uhl-tr.nhs.uk or Paula Dunnan, ReSPECT Project Manager at paula.m.dunnan@uhl-tr.nhs.uk