Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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1402. To ask the Minister for Health if he is considering putting in place a legal basis for the issuing of do not resuscitate orders in hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63129/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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To ensure that Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) orders are made consistently, transparently and in line with best practice, the Health Service Executive (HSE) provides guidance regarding advance care planning including making DNAR decisions.

The HSE National Consent Policy 2019 – Part 4 Do Not Attempt Resuscitation provides a decision-making framework that facilitates the advance discussion of personal preferences. Further Guidance regarding Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and DNAR Decision-Making during the COVID-19 Pandemic was developed in May 2020. This guidance is applicable to all care environments where services are provided for and on behalf of the HSE including acute hospitals, the ambulance service, community hospitals, residential care settings, general practice and home care.

Decisions relating to DNAR orders are part of the larger area of healthcare decisions that need to be made at the end-of-life. Best practice states that such decisions should be discussed as part of the advance care planning process. One method of achieving that goal is through an advance healthcare directive (AHD). An AHD is a statement made by a person with capacity setting out his or her will and preferences regarding treatment decisions that may arise in the future when he or she no longer has capacity. Part 8 of the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015 provides a legislative framework for these. It is the responsibility of my Department to implement Part 8 of the 2015 Act. Implementation of Part 8 requires that Codes of Practice are first drafted, to assist stakeholders in implementing its provisions. As per the provisions of Part 8, a Multidisciplinary Working Group has previously been established, who prepared detailed recommendations. These have since been submitted to the Decision Support Service (DSS), who have responsibility under the Act for finalising the draft Codes and initiating a public consultation. The Director of the DSS has recently commenced this consultation. Once this process is complete, the final Codes can be published by the Director, with my consent, in accordance with the process outlined in the Act.