Public involvement in writing a local "Do not attempt CPR" policy
Michael Canavan
Lead Resuscitation Officer
Summary
The NHS Ayrshire & Arran Resuscitation Group convened a short-life Public Focus/Patient Involvement (PFPI) group to assist with reviewing and rewriting the local "Do Not Attempt Cardioplumonary Resuscitation" (DNA CPR) Policy, and to help with communicating this policy to the wider public.
Dates
Start Date: 0
End Date: 0
Location
Ayrshire and Arran
Sector
Acute care, Primary care
Target groups
Methods Used
Aims and objectives
NHS Ayrshire & Arran Resuscitation Group convened a short-term Public Focus and Patient Involvement group in order to:
- inform the public of the necessity of a "Do Not Attempt CPR" Policy
- disseminate policy to the public in an appropriate manner
- obtain public opinion on how the key messages from this policy should be communicated to the public
- determine the accessibility of the policy
- review the current patient information leaflet, and
- help to develop strategies to improve communication and awareness in the wider community.
- inform the public of the necessity of a "Do Not Attempt CPR" Policy
- disseminate policy to the public in an appropriate manner
- obtain public opinion on how the key messages from this policy should be communicated to the public
- determine the accessibility of the policy
- review the current patient information leaflet, and
- help to develop strategies to improve communication and awareness in the wider community.
What we did
Invitations were extended to interested members of the Public Partnership Forum networks to become involved in this work. This was supported by the Patient and Community Relations Department at NHS Ayrshire & Arran.
At the first meeting the remit, challenges, limitations and timescales of the Group were clearly tabled to ensure that all members fully understood the boundaries of their influence. The initial plan was to meet on three separate occasions.
Group members were asked how they would like to be engaged, and identified the preferred methods for informing and engaging with the wider public.
After the first meeting, the members consulted with their Public Partnership Forums and returned with helpful and constructive messages about the policy itself. These included spelling and grammar, comments about the patient information leaflet and ideas for informing and educating the general public about matters relating to resuscitation.
At the same time, a national steering group began to develop a national "Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation" (DNA CPR) policy - as a result of the Scottish Government’s "Living and Dying Well" initiative. This meant that the remit of our public engagement Group had to change from developing a local policy to implementing a national one. However, there continued to be a dialogue about the national process which was fed into the national policy development group.
At the first meeting the remit, challenges, limitations and timescales of the Group were clearly tabled to ensure that all members fully understood the boundaries of their influence. The initial plan was to meet on three separate occasions.
Group members were asked how they would like to be engaged, and identified the preferred methods for informing and engaging with the wider public.
After the first meeting, the members consulted with their Public Partnership Forums and returned with helpful and constructive messages about the policy itself. These included spelling and grammar, comments about the patient information leaflet and ideas for informing and educating the general public about matters relating to resuscitation.
At the same time, a national steering group began to develop a national "Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation" (DNA CPR) policy - as a result of the Scottish Government’s "Living and Dying Well" initiative. This meant that the remit of our public engagement Group had to change from developing a local policy to implementing a national one. However, there continued to be a dialogue about the national process which was fed into the national policy development group.
Impact
The work of the local public engagement Group resulted in suggestions on various changes which could be made to the patient information leaflet, including the format, content and size.
Early in this project, the Scottish Government took a decision to develop and implement a national DNA CPR policy, which was anticipated to be launched in the Spring of 2010. The Group therefore agreed to meet for a final meeting later in the Summer of 2010 for an update on the local implementation of this national policy.
The views from the Ayrshire public group have been fed back to the national committee, particularly about how to inform the public. This will be incorporated into the education package which will accompany the national policy. The chairman of the national group has been very positive in his comments about NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s public engagement process.
Learning from the involvement of the public group was shared at a South Ayrshire Public Partnership Forum information event in 2010.
Early in this project, the Scottish Government took a decision to develop and implement a national DNA CPR policy, which was anticipated to be launched in the Spring of 2010. The Group therefore agreed to meet for a final meeting later in the Summer of 2010 for an update on the local implementation of this national policy.
The views from the Ayrshire public group have been fed back to the national committee, particularly about how to inform the public. This will be incorporated into the education package which will accompany the national policy. The chairman of the national group has been very positive in his comments about NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s public engagement process.
Learning from the involvement of the public group was shared at a South Ayrshire Public Partnership Forum information event in 2010.
Evaluation
An independent evaluation validation was conducted by the Scottish Health Council with both group members and the wider public networks.
Each group member was sent a short survey to evaluate the usefulness of the group.
Whilst 57% of group members felt they were able to comment on the documents, one comment made was "in effect we were being asked to comment on the leaflets explaining this policy and not the policy".
Over half of the group members felt they were able to take the documents back to their wider groups for comment, although some found that given the timescales, this was not easy to do.
Another participant commented: "This was a very successful project which enabled the health professionals who were not used to such negotiations with public representatives to experience the advantages of doing so."
Each group member was sent a short survey to evaluate the usefulness of the group.
Whilst 57% of group members felt they were able to comment on the documents, one comment made was "in effect we were being asked to comment on the leaflets explaining this policy and not the policy".
Over half of the group members felt they were able to take the documents back to their wider groups for comment, although some found that given the timescales, this was not easy to do.
Another participant commented: "This was a very successful project which enabled the health professionals who were not used to such negotiations with public representatives to experience the advantages of doing so."
