THE Daily Record’s Heart Start campaign has won cross-party support at Holyrood.
Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, and SNP MSPs are all backing our bid to increase the number of defibrillators in Scotland.
Lib Dem health spokesman Jim Hume yesterday lodged a motion at the Scottish Parliament supporting the campaign.
MSPs from all four main parties had added their support within a few hours.
Hume said: “This a worthy campaign from the Daily Record which has the full support of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
“Too many people in Scotland die from cardiac arrest which is why much more needs to be done to ensure life-saving defibrillators are in every community.”
The Record believes defibrillators should become as common a sight as fire extinguishers in a bid to dramatically reduce Scotland’s 1500 cardiac arrest deaths in the community every year.
Only five per cent of people who have a cardiac arrest outwith hospital survive and every minute they have to wait for a defibrillator or CPR cuts their chances.
Scottish Labour’s Neil Bibby also welcomed the campaign.
He said: “We need to make sure that if someone has a heart attack, that they can have easier access to life saving equipment and skills. Time is critical and it has been shown that defibrillators can save lives. Let’s make this happen.”
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw added: “This is a much-needed and worthy campaign which we are more than happy to support.
“As awareness over conditions like heart attacks increase, that has to be matched by the necessary equipment being available.
“People are living longer in Scotland and while that is welcome, it will bring its challenges too.
“One of those could be an increase in heart scares and that’s why this excellent piece of campaigning journalism is so important.” SNP MSP Kevin Stewart said: “Around 1500 people die from cardiac arrest outside of hospital every year and every second without CPR and defibrillation reduces the chance of survival – so the Daily Record campaign to raise awareness is very welcome.
“Last week the Scottish Government announced £1million to ensure every NHS dental practice in Scotland has a defibrillator installed.
“And it has invested £100,000 to allow the Scottish Ambulance Service to purchase and deploy defibrillators across the country – meaning thousands more chances to save a life in communities across Scotland.”
That the Parliament commends the Daily Record for the launch of its Heart Start campaign, which is highlighting the dangers of experiencing cardiac arrest without prompt medical treatment from CPR and defibrillation; understands that 1500 people die each year following a cardiac arrest outside of hospital and that each minute a cardiac arrest victim goes without CPR and defibrillation reduces their chance of survival by 10 per cent; welcomes the Scottish Government's announcement earlier in 2014 of £100,000 of funding to the Scottish Ambulance Service to purchase around 30 defibrillators and would welcome even greater provision of defibrillators across Scotland's communities; understands that only one fifth of local authority-managed leisure centres and community-use high schools currently have a defibrillator on the premises; commends the outstanding work of John and Di Hodgkinson in donating over 100 defibrillators to schools and sports clubs in Scotland in memory of their late son, Craig, and praises the work of charities such as Scottish Hart, Cardiac Risk in the Young and the British Heart Foundation to raise awareness of sudden cardiac death and the impact that it has on the friends and families of those who lose their lives.
The Record’s Heart Start campaign has been inundated with messages of support since its launch this week.
We believe defibrillators should be as common a sight as fire extinguishers in a bid to dramatically reduce Scotland’s 1500 cardiac arrest deaths in the community every year.
Only five per cent of people who have a cardiac arrest outwith hospital survive, and every minute they have to wait for a defibrillator or CPR cuts their chances.
And after listening to the views of those who know best – heart seizure victims and their families, campaigners and health professionals – today, we are calling for the Scottish Government to:
- Introduce legislation making defibrillators a legal requirement in public buildings, in the same way firefighting equipment such as fire extinguishers are demanded by law.
- Seek ways of funding the provision of defibrillators in highly populated areas where they are most likely to be needed.
- Set targets for dramatically increasing the number of Scots with basic cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillator training.
- Create a map providing the location of all defibrillators in Scotland and make it available on the internet.