Closed petition Make it a crime to purposely delay ringing the emergency services

Government responded

This response was given on 21 July 2025

Currently, the Government has no plans to legislate to make it a crime to delay calling emergency services during a medical emergency.

The Government recognises the concerns raised by the petitioner, who seeks to make it a criminal offence for a person to deliberately delay calling emergency services, when witnessing a person in need of medical attention. The Government understands, that in many situations, a failure to act might feel morally wrong.

At present, the Government has no plans to introduce legislation that would make it a criminal offence to delay contacting emergency services during a medical emergency.

In England and Wales, there is currently no general legal duty requiring members of the public to call emergency services in such situations. However, a duty of care may arise under specific circumstances. For example, between a parent and a child, between spouses or between a caregiver and an elderly person. If a duty of care exists and there is a negligent breach of that duty - and that breach significantly contributed to that person’s death - then an individual may be prosecuted for gross negligence manslaughter.

There are practical challenges to imposing a duty (backed by a criminal sanction) on all individuals to contact emergency services during medical emergencies. For example, it might be difficult for a stranger to determine whether there is a medical emergency and there may also be situations where it might endanger the person to make such a call.

Ministry of Justice