Sage commissioned the survey arising from their work on nursing home contracts in 2017 which identified problems with residents’ contracts being signed inappropriately by ‘Next-of-Kin’, sometimes when the person about to enter a nursing home had the capacity to decide for themselves. This is not and never has been the case,” Responding to the findings, Prof Shaun O’Keeffe, a Consultant Geriatrician in University Hospital Galway, and the HSE’s lead for the acute hospital sector on the implementation group for the Assisted Decision-Making Capacity Act (2015,) stated that “the term ‘Next of Kin’ is widely used by healthcare staff and by relatives, often with the implication that someone designated as the ‘Next of Kin’ of a person has some decision-making authority if the person lacks capacity to make a decision themselves. “It is particularly worrying that 52% believed that ‘Next of Kin’ was ‘someone who can make a decision about life support treatment for me’ and 35% believed that ‘Next of Kin’ was ‘The only person to be given medical or personal information about me’” said Mervyn Taylor, Executive Director of Sage Advocacy, the organisation that runs the service. (b) a new section relating to consent and decision making. (a) a section for recording details of persons to be contacted in the event of an emergency.

The new policy for inputting personal information should require Sage is now calling for a change in the way computer and paper based forms are structured which would drop all use of the term ‘Next of Kin’ in hospital, nursing home and primary care settings and any location where vulnerable adults or older people are cared for. It is also a vital issue for their relatives, friends or anyone directly concerned about their well-being. This misunderstanding is a serious issue for anyone undergoing medical care, and especially for vulnerable adults and older people. In fact being named as “Next of Kin” only means that that person should be contacted in the event of an emergency. SURVEY SHOWS NEED FOR CLEARER INFORMATION IN HEALTH SERVICEĪ survey commissioned by Sage, which promotes the rights of vulnerable adults and older people, has revealed widespread and serious misunderstanding about the meaning of the term “Next of Kin”.Īn online Red C poll showed that 52 per cent of those questioned believed, wrongly, that anyone named as “Next of Kin” can make healthcare or other major decisions on another person’s behalf.

Next of kin