A balloted Private Members' Bill (PMB) provides a significant opportunity for you to draw attention to an important issu
CARDIAC ARREST SURVIVAL BILL PRIVATE MEMBERS BILL
(England only) What will the Bill do?
What is the issue?
PART ONE will make CPR a statutory part of the secondary school curriculum so that young people will leave school knowing how to save a life.
Poor survival rates
PART TWO will require the owners of PADs to register the defibrillator with the ambulance service and use universal signage. A balloted Private Members’ Bill (PMB) provides a significant opportunity for you to draw attention to an important issue and provide a tangible solution. We believe a PMB to address the country’s poor survival rate for out of hospital cardiac arrests is a worthy choice.
x? The exact number of PADs and their location is not known.
In England almost 30,000 cardiac arrests happen out of hospital every year, but fewer than one in ten people survive1. Bystander action such as performing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and early defibrillation, before an ambulance arrives can be the difference between life and death.
Fewer than 1 in 10 people survive an out of hospital cardiac arrest
Bystanders are not equipped to save lives People often don’t have the skills and confidence to step in and help. Surveys have shown that around three quarters of people would not be confident performing CPR. Performing CPR keeps the blood flowing to vital organs such as the brain and increases the chances of the heart remaining in a ‘shockable’ rhythm until a defibrillator is used. In some cases using a defibrillator will shock the heart to restore a normal rhythm.
I mproved access to defibrillators is needed There are thousands of public access defibrillators (PADs) in public places across England. The BHF has helped place over 11,000 PADs in communities across England. They are fully automated and talk the user through what they need to do, so it is not necessary to be trained in using one. However, the exact numbers of all PADs, and their location, is not known as there is no central record. A BHF survey of ambulance services in 2014 found that the number of PADs registered with the local ambulance service ranged between 65 and 2300. Using consistent, universal signage for PADs would also alert the public to what and where they are. To maximise the impact of action to increase the number of PADs, it needs to be accompanied by measures to increase the number of people trained in CPR, and enable members of the public to be easily directed to PADs.
Why should I care?
Samantha’s story
Survival rates could increase • E quipping people with the skills and confidence to help save a life could dramatically increase survival rates. • In places where CPR is a mandatory part of the curriculum, survival rates are much higher than in England. • For example, in parts of Norway survival rates are 25%2 (1 in 4). If we could match these survival rates we could save up to 5,000 lives a year. % survival rate for out of hospital cardiac arrest
