Defibrillators

Lord Storey Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2014 Grand Committee

Asked by

[Lord Storey]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they will take to ensure that all schools, sports clubs and public service buildings have defibrillators as part of their first-aid kit provision.

[Lord Storey (LD)]

My Lords, today we debate a topic that is close to many of our hearts. I note that defibrillation has been raised in your Lordships’ House 57 times in some form or another since 1995, but today I hope that we will see some movement on this issue. Much like the conditions that trigger the need for a defibrillator, this issue will refuse to go away until we fully grasp it. Of course, I am talking about defibrillator provision and what the Government plan to do to ensure that all schools, all sports clubs and all public service buildings include AEDs as part of their first-aid kit provision.

My concern and my involvement in this area stem from the tragic death of a young Liverpudlian boy, Oliver King, in March 2011. He suffered a cardiac arrest during a swimming race at his school, King David High School, in Childwall. Sadly, he passed away as a result of SADS, or sudden arrhythmic death syndrome. His father, who has campaigned tirelessly for the past three years, is here today. I pay tribute to him and the foundation that he and his friends set up in Oliver’s memory, campaigning to get SADS provision in every Merseyside school and for their life-saving work in Merseyside and across the nation. They do tremendous, largely unsung work. I thank them and encourage the Government to pay heed to their suggestions.

In advance of today’s debate, I have received several briefings, notably from the London Ambulance Service, which sent me its Shockingly Easy campaign booklet. That title sums up this issue perfectly. St John Ambulance, the British Red Cross and the British Heart Foundation also sent me notes, as of course did Mr King. I thank them for their assistance and their efforts.

All present will know that a defibrillator is a machine that delivers an electric shock to the heart when someone is having a cardiac arrest. Used in conjunction with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, defibrillation massively increases one’s chances of survival during heart failure. Every second counts, as they say, and I echo calls for defibrillators to be made available within easy reach of anyone who needs such life-saving treatment.

Much like the provision of fire extinguishers and first-aid kits, defibrillators save lives. However, unlike the case with the regulations that mandate fire-extinguisher facilities and first-aid kits, currently no legal safeguards require provision of defibrillators. This is a disgrace, especially when we think that there are 60,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests every year in the UK. Survival rates, which have barely improved over the years, range from 2% to 12%. In London, one’s chances of survival shoot from 28% to 80% in cases where a trained person uses an AED.

I shall not labour the facts any further, but they beg the question why, if we think it important to place first-aid kits and fire extinguishers in our schools, old people’s homes and sports clubs, we are holding back defibrillators. More to the point, why is it that we have 16, soon to be 17, defibrillators on the Parliamentary Estate? If it is good enough for your Lordships’ House, surely it is good enough for everybody.

I shall return to the wider question and the topic of this debate. I suggest that the first step towards making our communities more resilient to the devastating effects of cardiac arrest must be to place AEDs in areas that see the highest number of cardiac arrests. To me this sounds like a no-brainer, and it is. I welcome the move by David Laws and the Department for Education to encourage schools to install machines, although I regret that, in this Parliament, we are not yet any further forward in making them mandatory.

As well as the installation of defibrillators in places of high footfall such as schools and public buildings, we should not forget the other side of the coin, which is education. People, young and old, must be educated in how to use a defibrillator, whether in a school, a young offender institution or at work. Fortunately, here in Parliament we are offered training. For the record, the next training session will be at 10 o’clock on 16 November in 7 Millbank, although perhaps that is a long time to wait. In order to make any investment in defibrillators worth while, young people must have access to and be able to engage in first-aid and life-saving education. Only 7% of the population have the skills and confidence to carry out basic first aid in an emergency, which is an appallingly low figure that must increase. What plans do the Government have to ensure a more comprehensive approach to first-aid education?

I know that it is not the done thing to use visual aids, and my noble friend will be pleased to learn that I do not intend to do so, but a defibrillator is very easy to use. You do not actually need any training. Although Mr King has brought one with him, I do not suggest that he should show it to us, but even I could use it without ever having had any training. You just follow the simple instructions. However, it is still important that first-aid training for all should be linked to that.

I think that we agree on the need for and importance of defibrillators, but it is worth stating that they must be installed in areas where there are high numbers of cardiac arrests. According to St John Ambulance, 74% of people think that it should be compulsory to have AEDs in care homes, and I agree. Indeed, I suggest that we should examine the case for having them in all care-home settings, both public and private, because this is a topic that should cut through the distinction between public and private provision. Quite simply, it is too important not to mandate the use of AEDs across the board, whether that be in football clubs, cinemas, schools, train stations or churches. Indeed, I know of some churches that have defibrillators because they save lives.

I am determined that we should do more. My noble friend Lord Nash, who supports efforts in this area, informed me on 3 February that,

“it is a matter for individual schools to decide whether to have defibrillators and to arrange individual training”.—[Official Report, 3/2/14; col. 7.]

Even though the governing bodies of maintained schools must now make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions—we should remember from the Children and Families Act the importance of the duty of care in terms of medical conditions—perhaps we should extend that duty of care to those pupils who might suffer cardiac arrest.

I want to raise one other issue, on which I have already written to my noble friend the Minister. It concerns a universal logo. If you want to find a fire extinguisher quickly, you know the logo. Similarly, you know the logo for a first-aid kit. However, there is as yet no universal logo for defibrillators, although the Minister did mention that NHS England is considering all avenues to increase the uptake of bystander resuscitation, including the location and use of AEDs. I suggest that a universal logo, combined with their inclusion in first-aid kits and a comprehensive approach to training and education, might be the way forward. Would the Minister consider taking a lead on this issue, particularly with the NHS, by suggesting that we should look at adopting some form of universal logo?

Finally, a word from Mr King, who says that use of defibrillators is often,

“the difference between life and death”.

This fact has been recognised by the national clinical director for heart disease, Professor Huon Gray, who I met with Mr King, as well as the Secretary of State, last year. Let the message go out from this short debate that lives can and will be saved by immediate access to defibrillators.