Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) has released the 2025 Resuscitation Guidelines, setting out the latest evidence-informed best practice for resuscitation and emergency care across all ages and care settings in the UK.
These updated guidelines are designed to improve survival, strengthen emergency care systems, and ensure consistent, high-quality training and practice across the four nations. They provide a single, trusted evidence base to support healthcare professionals, educators, and responders.
Developed over four years through a global evidence review led by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), the guidelines have been adapted for the UK in partnership with the European Resuscitation Council (ERC), following a development process aligned with NICE standards. They reflect the latest international research and have been shaped by insights from clinicians, educators, members of the public, and cardiac arrest survivors.
Professor Gavin Perkins MBE, President of RCUK, said: “These guidelines are the result of years of rigorous review and collaboration. They offer clear, practical guidance to help healthcare professionals make timely, informed decisions, ensuring that people receive the best possible care when it matters most.”
What’s new in the 2025 Resuscitation Guidelines?
Key updates include:
- Resuscitation education: Introducing CPR education from early childhood (ages 4–6) and reinforcing it throughout school and professional training, using simulation and gamified learning.
- First aid: A new section focused on bystander response, with updated guidance for emergencies including bleeding, choking, overdose, stroke, and trauma.
- Basic and advanced life support: Updated advice on chest compressions, defibrillation, airway management, and the role of ambulance call handlers.
- Ethics and end-of-life care: Stronger focus on advance care planning, person-centred decision-making, and family involvement during resuscitation.
- Systems saving lives: National recommendations for CPR education, public access defibrillators, and long-term support for survivors and their families.
- Paediatrics: Updated hand positioning for infant CPR and enhanced guidance on managing critical illness in infants and children, including special situations and post-resuscitation care.
- Newborn resuscitation and support of transition of infants at birth: Updated guidance on assessment, airway and breathing management, use of supplemental oxygen, resuscitation drugs, and new out-of-hospital guidance.
Who should use the guidelines?
- Healthcare professionals across hospitals, communities, ambulance services, mental health and other care settings.
- Educators and trainers delivering CPR and emergency care education.
- Public health bodies, community responders, and first aid organisations.
- Members of the public involved in community emergency response or first aid programmes.
What happens next?
RCUK encourages all organisations and individuals to begin preparing to implement the changes over the next 12 months. Updated RCUK training courses and manuals will be available from January 2026.