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.
First Aid Guidelines
First aid is described as a helping behaviour by anyone, for any emergency condition, in any situation, including self-care. Its provision typically involves recognising, assessing, and prioritising needs, providing care within the provider’s competencies whilst recognising their limitations, and seeking additional help such as activating the emergency services. All resuscitation, including basic and advanced life support, begins with first aid interventions: assessing scene safety, recognising decreased responsiveness or abnormal breathing, positioning the person appropriately, and responding to life-threatening conditions. First aid serves as a crucial first link in the chain of survival.
Key points form the updated First Aid Guidelines include the following -
- Expectations of a first aid provider: Always call for help early and, ideally, use a speakerphone, especially if alone. As a general principle, only use equipment and medications you have been trained to use.
- Structured assessment: Utilise an ABCDE approach to promptly identify and treat life-threatening conditions. ABCDE stands for A-Airway, B-Breathing, C-Circulation, D-Disability, E-Exposure.
- Foreign body airway obstruction: Use an escalating approach with cough, back blows and abdominal thrusts in adults who are choking.
- Life-threatening bleeding: an escalating approach with manual direct pressure and, thereafter, haemostatic dressing and/or tourniquets.
- Drowning: Offer flotation, remove the person from the water, and provide immediate care as needed, including preventing hypothermia.
- First aid courses: Tailor first aid courses to the needs of participants and settings and empower equity.
Visit the Resuscitation Council UK website here in order to read more about the guidelines and new First Aid practices.