App to save lives in East of England
24 June 2019, 06:24 | Updated: 24 June 2019, 06:27
The East of England Ambulance Service are hoping an app can help them save more lives.
They're teaming up with GoodSAM, which uses the tech to alert appropriately trained off-duty frontline staff and community first responders to life-threatening calls nearby.
It means patients can receive treatment as quickly as possible, receiving CPR or the use of a defibrillator before an ambulance arrives at the scene.
On average, our region's ambulance service responds to 26 cardiac arrests every day.
Gary Morgan, Deputy Director of Service Delivery for EEAST, said: "We are really pleased to have become the latest ambulance trust to link with GoodSAM to launch this life-saving initiative. It will draw on the skills of our dedicated staff and excellent network of community first responders to further enhance the response we are able to give to our most seriously-ill patients.
"Response time is a critical factor in cardiac arrest, and statistics from the British Heart Foundation show that for every minute delay in starting CPR, a patient's chance of survival falls by 10%. That is why it is vital for patients to receive treatment as early as possible.
"It's important to stress that GoodSAM is not a replacement for the emergency ambulance response, but an additional resource which will help us to further improve the service we provide to our patients.
"Our crews will continue to be dispatched to emergency calls in the same way, and will work alongside the GoodSAM responder to provide advanced treatment once they arrive on scene."
The GoodSAM app is already used widely across the globe, including by ambulance services in London, the East Midlands and Wales. It works by alerting the three nearest GoodSAM responders when EEAST's control room receives a 999 call to a cardiac arrest. Anybody who accepts an alert will be given directions to the scene of the emergency, as well as information about the location of the nearest defibrillator.
"This is a fantastic initiative which has real potential to save lives," said Anthony Brett, Safety and Risk Lead with EEAST, who has signed up as a GoodSAM responder.
"Seconds really do count when someone is in cardiac arrest and starting CPR as quickly as possible is essential. GoodSAM will play a really important role in helping to start that chain of survival and I'm really pleased to be taking part."
