The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives has welcomed the Parliamentary debate on the issue of sudden cardiac arrest (Monday 25 March 2013) where the contribution of the ambulance service was mentioned extensively.
Martin Flaherty, Managing Director of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, said: “It is high time this topic is better understood and this debate will hopefully provide key information to a much wider audience. The ambulance service nationally devotes a great deal of time and effort to CPR training and raising awareness of the importance of early intervention in cardiac events. Getting this high level debate into Parliament is the next step towards changing legislation which would see defibrillators in every public building – something that can only help save more lives and prevent unnecessary suffering.”
The debate focused on Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) but also addressed the issue of SADS in children. It was led by Labour MP Steve Rotheram and came on the back of a petition signed by 110,000 people and initiated by the OK Foundation, which was set up by the parents of a boy called Oliver King who was just 12 years of age when he died of sudden arrhythmic death syndrome.
Said Mr Rotheram: “Oliver’s family were totally unaware of his condition until they received the tragic news of his death in March 2011. Quite simply, Oliver could have been saved if an automatic external defibrillator had been to hand. However, despite their utter devastation at the loss of their child, Mark and Joanne decided to try to prevent other parents from having to go through the same heartache that they had, which has led them here to Westminster and today’s debate, and to their request for the Government to act.”
The three key issues arising from the debate were:
- getting CPR taught in schools
- providing more cardiac screening
- bringing in legislation that makes it statutory for all public buildings to have defibrillators.
It is also good to note that London Ambulance Service provided some background information and statistics which were referred to during the debate.
Perhaps one of the most interesting is that: 56 people died in London from a fire in 2011 compared with 10,000 Londoners who suffered an out of hospital cardiac arrest – yet fire extinguishers are statutory in every building – and defibrillators are not.
To read the full debate, see pages 93-111 of Hansard here.
