Independent report

Disagreements in the care of critically ill children

Report of the independent review on the causes of disagreements in the care of critically ill children by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.

• From: Department of Health and Social Care
• Published: 18 September 2023

Applies to England

Documents

Disagreements in the care of critically ill children

Unnumbered act paper

PDF, 3.67 MB, 99 pages

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Disagreements in the care of critically ill children (Nuffield Council on Bioethics web version)

PDF, 1.2 MB, 88 pages

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Details

Under section 177 of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care was required to arrange for the carrying out of a review into the causes of disputes between persons with parental responsibility for a critically ill child and persons responsible for the provision of care or medical treatment for the child as part of the health service in England, then publish and lay before Parliament a report on the outcome of the review.

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics was commissioned on 12 December 2022 to undertake an independent review that would result in:

• evidence-based advice on the causes of protracted disagreements between healthcare professionals and parents or carers about the care and treatment of critically ill children, and the ethical issues these raise
• recommendations for national or regional-level interventions to help avoid such disagreements or resolve them more quickly in future
• the identification of any gaps in the evidence base

The report was published on the Nuffield Council on Bioethics website on 18 September 2023.

Published 18 September 2023