The UK-first scheme will be offered to people in the East of England who have called 999 to report a cardiac arrest.
The new programme has been announced after Resuscitation Council UK revealed, fewer than one in 10 people who received out-of-hospital resuscitation following a cardiac arrest survived.
Deemed a first for the UK, the scheme offers live video support from paramedics to people who have called emergency services on behalf of someone suffering a cardiac arrest. Individuals will be sent a text message via the GoodSAM video platform. Here they need to click a link which connects them to medical staff.
During the video, paramedics will coach people through how to deliver proper CPR and teach them how to use defibrillators correctly.
The programme is due to be piloted in the East of England – a region that covers Bedfordshire, Essex, Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire – and comes following a successful trial in Denmark.
According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the project could quadruple people’s chances of survival.
‘Every day we see cases where high quality CPR has made a life-changing difference to patients,’ Dr Gareth Grier, associate medical director at Essex and Herts Air Ambulance, said. ‘This project will make sure that every patient gets the best chance of a good outcome.’
Funded by via the support of the East of England Ambulance Service Charity and a £142,000 grant from NHS Charities Together, the new scheme is already being trialled in the East.
Photo by www.testen.no via UnSplash
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