ReSPECT subcommittee

About the ReSPECT subcommittee

The ReSPECT subcommittee provides strategic oversight of the ReSPECT (Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment) process across the UK, supporting its adoption, implementation and ongoing development. Bringing together representatives from across the UK and key stakeholders, the group evaluates evidence about emergency care planning and considers its relevance to the ReSPECT process, develops resources and guidance for adopters, and helps ensure ReSPECT remains responsive to the needs of patients, healthcare professionals and organisations. Through this work, the subcommittee supports high-quality, person-centred emergency care and treatment planning in line with RCUK's vision of appropriate resuscitation for all.

"I was motivated to join the ReSPECT subcommittee because I’ve seen the positive difference ReSPECT can make; I believe it is one of the most important ways in which we can ensure future care genuinely reflects the individual. The opportunity to contribute to this work on a national scale while also learning from the experience of the other subcommittee members is incredibly rewarding. I am grateful to be among a group of experts working to ensure that ReSPECT remains compassionate, clear and workable in real clinical settings."

Paul Darling-Wills, ReSPECT subcommittee member

Dr Zoë Fritz - Chair

Dr Zoë Fritz is a Consultant Physician at Cambridge University Hospitals and a Wellcome Fellow in Bioethics, based between Warwick and Cambridge Universities. She became interested in the possible negative effects of DNACPR orders while working as a Registrar in Acute Medicine and Intensive Care, and has conducted research on the use, ethics, and understanding of DNACPR orders. She and her colleagues in Cambridge have developed and assessed an alternative approach to DNACPR orders, the Universal Form of Treatment Options (UFTO) which contextualises the resuscitation decision amongst other treatment decisions and is completed for all patients.

Charlotte Collings

Registered Nurse

Charlotte is a registered nurse working in Essex as a Safer Staffing Lead, with a background in intensive care, she is a member of the PPIV group using her professional knowledge and skills in her nursing capacity, but also as a survivor of a cardiac arrest to share her insight in shaping work with RCUK. She has supported one of the sub committees relating to ReSPECT and is passionate about delivering CPR training in schools for children and the availability of community based defibrillators. Charlotte has used her nursing skills to provide training in Brownies/girl guides locally, and support her local nursery in fundraising successfully for a defib, as well as wider training and awareness of resuscitation.

Emmeline Venn

Resuscitation Practitioner

Emmeline Venn is a registered nurse and clinical educator with a particular interest in simulation-based education, resuscitation training and neuroinclusive practice. Her clinical background spans acute medicine, critical care and respiratory medicine, and she is currently working at the Royal Wolverhampton Trust within the Clinical Skills and Resuscitation Services department. Emmeline is one of the founding members of the RCUK Early Careers Forum, and led a project that developed guidance for supporting neurodivergent candidates on RCUK courses.

Professor Gavin Perkins

Dean of Medicine / Intensivist

Professor Gavin Perkins is Dean of Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick, Honorary Professor of Critical Care Medicine at University Hospitals Birmingham, Non-Executive Director at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, and a leading international authority in resuscitation science and emergency care. His research focuses on improving outcomes from cardiac arrest and other life-threatening emergencies through high-quality clinical trials, implementation science, and health service innovation. Professor Perkins has led and contributed to numerous national and international studies that have shaped resuscitation practice and guidelines worldwide. He has held senior leadership roles within the Resuscitation Council UK, the European Resuscitation Council, and the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), helping to develop evidence-based recommendations used by healthcare professionals across the globe. A highly cited researcher, Professor Perkins has published extensively in leading medical journals and secured significant funding from organisations including the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). His work has influenced policy, clinical practice, and public awareness of cardiac arrest, bystander CPR, and defibrillation. In recognition of his contributions to medicine and resuscitation science, Professor Perkins was awarded an MBE and has received a number of national and international honours, including the American Heart Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He remains committed to advancing research, education, and public engagement to improve survival and outcomes from cardiac arrest and other medical emergencies.

Dr Juliet Spiller

Consultant in Palliative Medicine

Dr Juliet Spiller has been a consultant in Palliative medicine based at the Marie Curie Hospice in Edinburgh since 2002 supporting inpatient, community and outpatient services. From 2002 to 2010 she also supported the Hospital specialist palliative care services in an acute hospital and the community. Her interest in Emergency Care Planning started early in her consultant career when she led on regional and then national DNACPR policy. In 2016, Juliet was part of the core group developing what became the ReSPECT process and she is currently vice-chair of the ReSPECT RCUK subcommittee and chair of the Scottish ReSPECT collaborative. Other longstanding clinical and research interests in palliative care include digital future care planning, delirium, psychological interventions, and medical acupuncture.

Paul Darling-Wills

Operational lead for Resuscitation Services

Paul has more than 38 years’ experience in emergency and resuscitation care, including 11 years with the London Ambulance Service, during which time he responded to several of London’s major incidents. Paul is the Operational Lead for Resuscitation Services at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with responsibility for clinical response, training, audit and governance across two acute hospital sites. Paul attended his first ALS course in 1994 and, after being recommended for instructor, became an RCUK ALS Instructor and Course Director in 1996. He also instructs and directs on a range of RCUK and ERC resuscitation and education courses. As the joint Trust Clinical Lead for ReSPECT, Paul has led its implementation, education and digital development, giving him a practical understanding of how it can best support patients and the clinical teams caring for them. He is honoured to be a member of the ReSPECT Subcommittee and enjoys working with RCUK to help shape the future of ReSPECT.

Paul Garner

Transformation Clinical Lead for Palliative and End of Life Care

Paul is a nurse by background, and his field of expertise is palliative and end of life care. He has been working with ReSPECT plans since 2018 and is highly motivated to make this important tool work. In Staffordshire he has supported several interesting projects including a service evaluation which lead to the development of a set of audit standards and the implementation of digital ReSPECT. Paul hopes his experience will be helpful in the important work undertaken by the ReSPECT subcommittee.

Dr Rob Tinnion

Neonatologist

Dr Rob Tinnion is a Consultant Neonatologist in a medical/surgical neonatal intensive care unit in the North of England, and has been part of RCUK's Newborn subcommittee for 15 years. He has an interest in how the principles and evidence base of newborn stabilisation and resuscitation can be applied to out-of-hospital practice for both midwives and ambulance clinicians. Within the Newborn subcommittee he is the OH-NLS lead. Rob also sits on the ReSPECT subcommittee to support the group's work with input around planned palliative and end of life care from a newborn perspective. Rob is an NLS, ARNI and OH-NLS Course Director/Instructor, and teaches on GIC. In his clinical role, he is also the medical lead for the Northern Neonatal Transport Service.

Ross Smith

Consultant in Paediatric Palliative Medicine

Ross Smith is a consultant in Paediatric Palliative Medicine. His specialist interest is Advance Care Planning, considering a holistic and inclusive process to creating (and using) appropriate personalised plans for future care and management for babies / children and young adults. He co-lead’s the Child and Young Person’s Advance Care Plan (CYPACP) Collaborative [the most widely used Advance Care Plan in the UK] and is delighted to be the paediatric representative for ReSPECT.

Dr Sharon English

Neonatologist

Dr Sharon English is a Consultant Neonatologist with over 20 years’ experience at Leeds Children’s Hospital, with a longstanding specialist interest in neonatal and perinatal palliative care. Early in her career, she focused on improving end-of-life care for neonates and their families and developing strong links with local children’s hospices. She further developed her expertise by completing a Diploma in Paediatric Palliative Medicine, receiving the Dame Cicely Saunders Gold Medal. Since 2019, alongside her neonatal role, Sharon has worked as a Perinatal Hospice Doctor at Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in Huddersfield. Working as part of a dedicated perinatal team, she supports families from the antenatal period, through delivery and neonatal care, and beyond. She has extensive experience in antenatal and neonatal advance care planning and has contributed to national publications on perinatal palliative care. In addition to membership of the RCUK ReSPECT Subcommittee, Sharon sits on the APPM Perinatal Special Interest Group and the CYPACP Steering Group. Her work is driven by a commitment to compassionate, individualised palliative care for babies and their families, throughout and at the end of life.