2025 Resuscitation Guidelines

Executive summary of the main changes since the 2021 Resuscitation Guidelines …

An introduction to the 2025 Guidelines, including details of key changes.

Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines 2025 have been developed through a continuous four-year process, informed by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) 2025 Consensus on Science with Treatment Recommendations and the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) Guidelines for Resuscitation 2025.

The 2025 recommendations are based on systematic evidence reviews, consensus development, and wide stakeholder engagement, including healthcare professionals, members of the public, and cardiac arrest survivors. For more detailed supporting material, please refer to the ERC Guidelines.

The UK Guidelines translate international evidence into recommendations tailored for UK clinical practice.

Following the conclusion of NICE’s accreditation programme for guidelines, RCUK continues to apply the same rigorous and transparent methodology outlined in its Guidelines Development Process Manual.

These Guidelines provide a shared knowledge base for healthcare professionals across the UK, encompassing basic and advanced life support for adults, children, and newborns.

Guidelines process

Information about how the 2025 Guidelines were developed.

Epidemiology of Cardiac Arrest

These guidelines outline data from UK studies about in- and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Education of resuscitation

Guidelines for achieving a gold-standard level of education in resuscitation practice for healthcare professionals and members of the public. 

Systems saving lives

These guidelines describe a number of system-level factors that can improve the management of cardiac arrest patients and provide best practice guidance for interventions to improve outcomes for both out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA).

Ethics in resuscitation

This section outlines core ethical principles and UK law around resuscitation. These guidelines should be operationalised in accordance with national mental capacity law.

First Aid Guidelines

This new section provides advice based on science on life-threatening conditions that might lead to a cardiac arrest if first aid is not done or on time-critical conditions where first aid can reduce severe morbidity.

Resuscitation Guidelines

Adult Resuscitation Guidelines 2025

Adult basic life support

Information about the confidence, knowledge and skills needed to act when someone sustains an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Adult advanced life support

Guidelines for treating adults who require advanced life support, including concise guidelines for clinical practice.

Special circumstances

Guidelines that cover important situations where modifications or additions to existing guidelines may be needed.

Post-resuscitation care

Guidelines on the management of patients post-cardiac arrest. 

This section provides guidelines for treating adults who require cardiopulmonary resuscitation, covering basic and advanced life support, special circumstances, and post-resuscitation care.

Paediatric Resuscitation Guidelines 2025

Paediatric life support (basic and advanced)

This section provides guidelines for treating paediatric patients who are deteriorating, require cardiopulmonary resuscitation, basic and advanced life support, special circumstances, and post-resuscitation care.

Newborn Resuscitation and Support of Transition of Infants at Birth Guidelines 2025

Newborn resuscitation and support of transition of infants at birth

These guidelines cover newborn resuscitation and the support of transition of babies at birth.