Four more deaths in Northern Ireland from Covid-19

The number of people who have died from coronavirus in Northern Ireland has risen by four to 82, according to the latest figures from the North's Public Health Agency (PHA) published on Thursday afternoon.

The PHA also reported there were 138 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 bringing the total number of cases in the North to 1,477. A total of 10,203 people have been tested for the virus.

Meanwhile, the chief social officer for Northern Ireland has insisted that it would be wrong for any hospital or care home staff to put up “do not resuscitate” (DNR) notices for patients without consulting their families first.

Sean Holland made his comment at the Stormont health committee on Thursday after a number of politicians complained that some families were being pressurised to agree to no resuscitation stipulations for their loved ones in Northern Ireland hospitals and care homes.

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The matter was raised both at the Assembly health scrutiny committee during discussion on the Covid-19 crisis and separately by Sinn Féin Derry Assembly member Martina Anderson who referred to accounts of such action happening at some care homes.

Such reports were “deeply worrying, against clinical guidance and are simply unacceptable”, she said.

“I have raised this matter with the health minister because elderly, vulnerable people and their loved ones are genuinely worried. Sadly, in some situations DNRs are appropriate but only where genuine and sensitive discussion has been had with patients, or their families, and where their consent has been freely given.”

At the Assembly health committee Sinn Féin chairman Colm Gildernew also raised the issue.

“Conversations must be had with family and with patients, so that there is no room for misinterpretation, and that pressure of time does not lead to these hugely sensitive and difficult decisions being rushed,” he said.

Mr Gildernew said families must be “given the time to consider and discuss and participate in those discussions fully”.

Ulster Hospital

DUP North Down MLA Alex Easton said on Thursday morning he received an email from the family of a woman at the Ulster Hospital in east Belfast who said a DNR notice was put against that patient even though she was "conscious and she was not told this was happening".

Mr Easton said her family was not contacted about the DNR notice. He asked the chief social officer Mr Holland for assurance “that people’s lives are not being decided without consultation with their loved ones because if that is the case that it totally unacceptable”.

Mr Holland said he would follow up on the matter. The Ulster Hospital also was contacted for a response.

More generally, Mr Holland said the issue of whether or not to resuscitate was a very sensitive issue and one that families should usefully discuss at more relaxed times. He said the ultimate decision on DNRs is “made in partnership between the clinical team and family and carers”.

“There have been reports about blanket use of do not resuscitate orders where classes or groups of people, populations of people, have been identified as unsuitable for resuscitation. That is wrong,” he said.

“I have no evidence of that happening in Northern Ireland, but I would not support that approach under any circumstances.”

A spokeswoman for the Ulster Hospital said the DNA decision “comes into operation only when a patient has a cardiac arrest”.

“It does not refer to any other treatment which the patient may be receiving,” she said.

“There should be a discussion with the patient and/or relevant family members and this decision must be documented in the patient’s medical notes,” she explained.

She could not comment on Mr Easton’s specific claim because the hospital did not discuss individual cases and also because it did not have the purported individual’s details.