Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates.
As set out in the Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates could be improved with better and earlier cardiopulmonary resuscitation. NHS England's National Clinical Director for Heart Disease, Professor Huon Gray, has established an advisory group of all resuscitation stakeholders including the Resuscitation Council UK and Directors of Ambulance Services to look at ways to tackle this issue.
In addition the Department for Education, working with the Department of Health, has developed a programme which aims to contribute to improving survival rates of out of hospital cardiac arrests by helping schools purchase defibrillators at a competitive price.