Vol. 519 No. 4
92 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the proposals, if any, he has to introduce a programme whereby defibrillators will be located in public places, such as airports, railway stations, shopping centres, banks and post-offices, as is being done in England where the UK Department of Health stated that around 57,000 patients suffered a heart attack in 1999 and every fifth attack occurred in a public place and only 3% of those patients survived. [13984/00]
Policy on the development of emergency medical services in Ireland is set out in a number of documents, including the health strategy, "Shaping a Healthier Future", the report of the review group on the ambulance service and "Building Healthier Hearts", the Government's cardiovascular health strategy. The approach set out in these documents follows the internationally accepted principles of the chain of survival, which provides that effective care for cardiac emergencies requires early access to emergency care; early CPR; early defibrillation; and early advanced care.
The cardiovascular health strategy clearly highlights the importance of patient-centred pre-hospital care involving not only the ambulance service but general practitioners, first responders and the public at large who all have a role to play in providing the right care at the right time. In line with this approach, services are being developed to provide an appropriate level of care in the community to deal with cardiac emergencies. My Department funds a bystander CPR training programme which is organised by the Irish Heart Foundation. This programme aims to increase the availability of CPR skills in the community.
Defibrillation skills now form a part of basic training for all ambulance personnel. In line with developments in technology which now allow people to use defibrillators safely with less training than in the past, my Department is supporting a pilot first responder programme, which includes defibrillation skills. This project is being undertaken by the North Western Health Board. My Department has also supported initiatives to provide GPs in more remote rural areas with defibrillator and support equipment and training to allow them deal with emergencies in advance of the arrival of an ambulance. These schemes are all in line with the focus of the cardiovascular strategy which seeks to put a pre-hospital care network in place, based on the principles of the chain of survival. Further expansion of these initiatives will fall to be progressed in the further implementation of the cardiovascular health strategy.
The Deputy may also be aware that I have recently established the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council – PHECC. The area of training standards is a central part of the council's remit and the development of standards to underpin the effective diffusion of defibrillation skills will be a key area of the council's workload.
