Heartstart
The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-01067, in the name of Siobhan McMahon, on the British Heart Foundation’s heartstart event in the Parliament. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament acknowledges the Heart Start event that recently took place in the Parliament; considers this event to have been of significant value in raising awareness of the importance of emergency life support training; thanks the pupils from St Ambrose High School in Coatbridge and Portree High School on Skye who helped to demonstrate the procedures; understands that, for every minute that passes after a cardiac arrest without defibrillation, the chances of survival are reduced by around 10%, but that immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can triple the chances of survival; supports the campaign, led by the British Heart Foundation Scotland, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and Lucky 2B Here, for every child to receive emergency life support and CPR training in school as part of the Curriculum for Excellence, and believes that such training would be of great benefit in the ongoing fight against heart disease in Scotland.
17:09
First, I extend my warmest thanks to Ben McKendrick of the British Heart Foundation and Charles Fawcett of healthy lifestyle Scotland. They and their organisations have made invaluable contributions to furthering the case for introducing emergency life-support training in Scottish schools and have laid much of the groundwork that has helped to bring about this evening’s debate. I also thank my fellow MSPs in all parties who have signed the motion and all those who are attending the debate.
As an ancient proverb has it, whoever saves a life saves the world entire. What is the value to society of creating a whole generation of potential life-savers? Life is a gift and privilege and the ability to save it transcends any quantitative or qualitative assessment. I am sad to say that many of us will have looked on powerless as a fellow human being suffers pain or a friend or loved one hovers on the brink between life and death. There can be few worse experiences. On many such occasions, there is nothing that we or indeed anyone can do to help and the cruel reality is that these are the times when we would do anything—indeed, give anything—to be able to make a difference.
Does the member agree that it is vital that a supply of defibrillators is available throughout rural areas, in particular? If so, does she support the great work of Skye-based charity Lucky2BHere, which is providing training and defibrillators throughout the island?
Absolutely. I commend the member for the work that he has done on Skye on this issue.
We must not pass up any opportunity to ensure that emergency life-support training is available in schools throughout Scotland. In the most extreme situations, most of us take refuge in the practical and in what we as individuals can do to assist. However, if we do not know what to do, we cannot assist. What if someone were to have a cardiac arrest in front of us, something that happens 25 times a day in Scotland? Our natural instinct is to help, to do something to offset death or to alleviate the pain. Let us be honest: even those trained in ELS will find the experience terrifying but at least they will know what to do and they will have the skills and knowledge to give that person—who could be their father, mother, son or daughter—the best possible chance of survival. One can only imagine the rising tide of panic and desperation and overwhelming sense of helplessness that someone without ELS training will feel. I know which situation I, as a patient or carer, would rather be in.
Scotland’s battle against heart disease is so well known that it feels almost trite to mention it. However, the figures still make for stark reading. Scotland has been referred to as the sick man of Europe and, to our collective shame, the label has some validity. Rates of coronary heart and cardiovascular disease are notably higher in Scotland than they are in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe. Even if we take the UK in isolation, heart disease rates in Scotland remain disproportionately high. Although over the past 20 years the overall incidence of heart disease has fallen across the UK, data compiled by the British Heart Foundation show that, in 2008, 81 Scottish males per 100,000 of population aged between 34 and 75 died from coronary heart disease, a figure that is 30 per cent higher than the UK average.
Of course, providing emergency life-support training in schools will not, by itself, solve the problem. Prevention is key and it is imperative that, as a nation, we achieve a collective and substantial change in habit, attitude, health and lifestyle. I am sure that we are all well versed in the steps that we can take to reduce the risk of cardiovascular or coronary heart disease. Indeed, most of us could recite them verbatim: eat healthily; drink in moderation; do not smoke; and do more exercise. Nevertheless, the message does not appear to be getting through and that is why I believe that information on healthy living should accompany emergency life-support training.
However, I have some good news—and I am glad to say that it is genuinely good news. Thanks to a lot of hard work by a number of individuals, there are already some excellent examples of ELS training models in Scotland. As a Central Scotland MSP, I am proud to say that at the vanguard of those is the North Lanarkshire heartstart scheme, led locally by the healthy lifestyle co-ordinator Charles Fawcett. Established in 2008, the North Lanarkshire programme provides schools with on-going support for and advice on ELS training and is supported by, among others, the British Heart Foundation and St Andrew’s Ambulance Association. I am sure that colleagues will highlight other examples of partnership working for that kind of training elsewhere in the country.
What exactly does emergency life-support training involve? It covers vital skills such as assessing an unconscious patient; performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation; dealing with choking and serious bleeding; helping someone who might be having a heart attack; and providing instruction on the use of defibrillators. A model piloted in St Ambrose high school in Coatbridge and other North Lanarkshire schools offers an integrated and sustainable approach to delivering the programme within the context of curriculum for excellence.
I was fortunate enough to meet some of the pupils—namely Vicky McDowell, Monica Berry, Gemma Daly, Lauren Owens and Kerryn Breen—at the event in Holyrood last month that was hosted by my colleague Helen Eadie. Along with pupils from Portree high school, they exhibited great skill and knowledge in demonstrating a range of emergency life-support techniques, including ways of using defibrillators.
For every minute that passes without defibrillation in the aftermath of a cardiac arrest, the chances of survival decrease by 14 per cent. Defibrillators are simple to use and surprisingly inexpensive, and we should act to ensure that the life-saving machines are widely available in public places—for example, in schools and workplaces, on public transport, and along major transport routes.
Thanks to the hard work and commitment of a number of partner agencies—not least, North Lanarkshire Council—emergency life-support training is now available in 90 per cent of North Lanarkshire schools. That is a shining example to the rest of the country. Scotland’s local authorities have a large degree of flexibility over what is taught in their areas. I therefore hope that other councils will follow North Lanarkshire Council’s lead and give serious consideration to implementing the heartstart programme.
Emergency life-support training is hugely popular with pupils, parents and teachers; it adheres to the aims and spirit of the curriculum for excellence; it is cost effective; and, crucially, it can—it will—save lives. The heartstart campaign is now looking for other local authorities to volunteer to become heartstart councils and to move towards full affiliation in the months ahead. We can all help in that, by making the case directly with our local authority colleagues, urging them to seize this unique and valuable opportunity, which is in the best interests of all our constituents.
If necessary, I hope that the Scottish Government will provide financial support and will work closely with the campaign organisers as well as with the councils that sign up. There will be financial implications in all this, but considerable expertise and support is available from the wide array of organisations that are backing the campaign and which stand ready and willing to help.
As I said at the beginning of my speech, what is the value of a generation of life-savers? The question that we ask should not be, “Can we afford to do this?” It should be, “How can we afford not to?”
17:16
I congratulate Siobhan McMahon on securing this important debate. I am pleased to participate in it.
The British Heart Foundation’s heartstart programme is an excellent initiative that I have supported from the outset. I was strongly encouraged to do so by Charles Fawcett, who is here tonight in the public gallery. More recently, I was pleased to attend the event in the Parliament that Siobhan McMahon mentioned, where pupils from St Ambrose high school in my constituency gave an impressive demonstration of the life-support skills that they have learned. They were a credit to themselves, to their school and to Coatbridge. They clearly demonstrate the success of the scheme and are testament to what could be achieved if the programme were to be rolled out in schools across Scotland.
In a private meeting with the pupils before the event, I was impressed by the knowledge and keenness shown by the girls, who clearly were well aware of the importance of this project. I would like to welcome Gemma Daly and Vicky McDowell, who are in the public gallery this evening.
One of the outcomes under the curriculum for excellence—which Siobhan McMahon mentioned—states that pupils should know, and be able to demonstrate, how to keep themselves and others safe, and should be able to respond in a range of emergency situations. It would certainly be advantageous if the Scottish Government were to agree that this potentially life-saving education should be included as part of the school curriculum, and to insist that local authorities find a way of accommodating the heartstart programme.
Emergency life support can be performed without any special medical knowledge, and it can take as little as two hours of a school year to teach some basic skills. As a cross-curricular activity, it could be accommodated within the curriculum of personal and social education or community involvement, or as part of the physical education course. It may be that local authorities will require additional funding in order to implement the programme initially. However, the initial costs would be a small price to pay if the programme were to help to reduce Scotland’s poor record of heart-related deaths. In the spirit of encouraging preventative spending—which we are very keen on in this Parliament—I hope that the programme will save our national health service money in the long run. The prospect of someone close to us suffering from a heart attack is a terrifying one, and the more of our young people who are trained under the heartstart scheme the better.
While attending an event earlier this year in the Time Capsule in Coatbridge to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the British Heart Foundation, I saw at first hand the confidence that this type of programme can instil in our young people. There were pupils from St Mary’s primary school in Coatbridge, from Coatbridge high school, and from St Ambrose high school, who had learned first aid and resuscitation techniques, giving them a sense of responsibility and confidence. This type of programme can also encourage pupils to learn further first aid and life-saving skills, which will assist in their personal development as well as benefiting our society as a whole.
The programme in North Lanarkshire has been critically acclaimed by the chair of St Andrew’s First Aid, and it is an example of good practice that other local authorities could follow. In addition, the external evaluation report content is being used by Dr Barry Vallance, the lead clinician on heart disease in Scotland. That, in turn, will inform the on-going activity of the national advisory committee on heart disease.
All 24 secondary schools in North Lanarkshire are now affiliated to the heartstart programme, and there is a strong desire to install defibrillators in those schools over the next three years. That is particularly important because North Lanarkshire has high levels of deprivation, which are strongly linked to above national average incidences of coronary heart disease and related ill health.
In conclusion, I fully support the British Heart Foundation campaign and the involvement of Charles Fawcett of the healthy lifestyles project, which is based in my constituency. I have previously written to the Scottish Government on the issue, and I encourage the minister to take seriously the proposal in my colleague’s motion that every child should receive emergency life-support and CPR training in school as part of the curriculum for excellence. Once again, I congratulate Siobhan McMahon.
17:20
It gives me great pleasure to speak in this debate, and I congratulate Siobhan McMahon on bringing this important issue before the Parliament.
Presiding Officer, I apologise to you and to colleagues in the chamber that I will have to leave before the end of the debate as I have a surgery in my constituency this evening.
The motion, which has cross-party support, sets out clearly the importance of emergency life-support training. It recognises that, for every minute that passes after a cardiac arrest without defibrillation, the chances of survival are reduced by around 10 per cent—that information is from the European Resuscitation Council’s 2010 guidelines for resuscitation—and that immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, can triple the chances of survival.
Coronary heart disease and stroke are a clinical priority for the national health service in Scotland, and reducing the number of deaths from heart disease is a national priority for the Scottish Government. Therefore, it is right that we should debate what more can be done to save lives through greater awareness of and support for emergency life-support training in schools.
I add my support to that which has been expressed by other members in support of the emergency life-support campaign—a coalition of organisations led by the British Heart Foundation Scotland, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, and Lucky2BHere. All those organisations are campaigning for every child in Scotland to be taught emergency life support in schools. I recognise that the campaign has attracted significant and growing support from, among others, the Scottish Ambulance Service, the St Andrew’s Ambulance Association, the British Medical Association, the Resuscitation Council UK and the Royal College of Nursing. As we have heard, the campaign has the support of parents, the public and schoolchildren.
Why does emergency life support matter? The obvious answer is that it is a set of actions needed to keep someone alive until professional help arrives. Each year, 30,000 people in the United Kingdom have cardiac arrests outside the hospital environment, of whom fewer than 10 per cent will survive to be discharged from hospital. There are around 25 cardiac arrest calls each day in Scotland to the Scottish Ambulance Service; evidence shows that around two thirds of cardiac arrests that occur outside hospital occur in the home and that nearly half that occur in public are witnessed by bystanders.
The objective must be to teach our children and young people the valuable life skills that will remain with them throughout their lives. It is also about schools teaching children and young people how to save a life. We all want our children to learn skills, such as how to ride a bike, play a musical instrument and speak a foreign language. Why do we not add how to save a life to that valuable set of life skills? A survey conducted by the British Heart Foundation found that 78 per cent of schoolchildren want to learn how to save someone’s life in an emergency, while 86 per cent of teachers agree that emergency life support should be taught in schools.
Health and wellbeing is a central pillar of the curriculum for excellence, and it includes learning how to respond in a range of emergency situations. It is important that we recognise the vital role that the NHS and charitable organisations can play in visiting schools to help to give children and young people the skills that could save a life.
The experiences and outcomes in the curriculum for excellence contain a section on physical wellbeing, which includes the statement:
“I know and can demonstrate how to keep myself and others safe and how to respond in a range of emergency situations.”
It is important that schools and local authorities put in place the resources and commitment to take forward that learning.
To support Scottish schools and local authorities, officials from the Scottish Government, Education Scotland and relevant charities are working in partnership to develop a case study resource on the teaching of emergency life-support skills, which will be issued to every school in Scotland.
The vision and ambition must be to ensure that every child leaves school knowing how to save a life, creating a whole new generation of life-savers.
17:25
I congratulate Siobhan McMahon on bringing this debate to the Parliament. She articulated very well and eloquently the continuing problems that we have with heart disease in Scotland. It is a stain on our society that so many people die prematurely from heart disease. We accept that there are long-term issues such as those of diet, health and fitness that need to be addressed, but Siobhan McMahon clearly outlined practical measures that can be taken to mitigate the problem when someone has a heart attack. She is right to underline the contribution that defibrillators make in helping to save lives. She eloquently outlined the sterling work throughout Scotland of organisations such as the British Heart Foundation Scotland and Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland.
I want to put on record some thoughts about the availability of and access to defibrillators. There has recently been publicity about defibrillators being provided in ex-phone boxes in rural areas. In the central belt, credit must be given to the co-operative movement, which has again taken the lead. Scotmid has decided to introduce defibrillators in some of its stores and to train staff to use them. Not for the first time, the co-operative movement has been at the forefront of doing something that makes a real difference to people’s lives. I hope that other retailers will copy the Scotmid model, as it definitely has value.
I signed Siobhan McMahon’s motion and I believe that the sentiments that are contained therein are worthy, but I have one slight area of concern, which is about what goes on in schools. I accept that the curriculum for excellence can help to facilitate better training and more awareness and the teaching of young people to deal with emergencies. The curriculum for excellence has been designed to allow teachers flexibility in how they teach their subjects. In Scotland, ministers or education authorities have never prescribed a curriculum. Therefore, we must be cautious about wanting to add things to the curriculum. When I was a minister, I had approaches from the British Red Cross to do something similar in relation to first aid. I was also approached by organisations that were involved in financial inclusion and dealing with bullying and homophobia and which wanted something to be introduced into the curriculum. However, that is not how we do it in Scotland.
The curriculum for excellence gives us a significant opportunity, but we should be careful about trying to prescribe something and to change significantly the way in which we deliver education in schools. Our current model, which allows flexibility and imagination, is the way forward. I hope that many teachers will take advantage of the fantastic resources that organisations have produced.
17:29
I congratulate Siobhan McMahon on securing the debate. I am happy to agree that the recent heartstart event in the Parliament served to highlight the importance of training in emergency life support. I thank the pupils from Coatbridge and Portree who demonstrated to us their skills.
The fact that I did not sign the motion in no way indicates opposition to the principle that as many people as possible, including schoolchildren, should be trained in emergency life support and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. I certainly believe that such training is extremely valuable and saves lives. However, like Hugh Henry, I am not totally convinced that it needs to be prescribed within the curriculum for excellence, although schools should be encouraged to get involved in it.
The heartstart scheme that the British Heart Foundation administers is excellent, and I am delighted that other organisations—such as St Andrew’s Ambulance Association and the British Red Cross—are also working to train young people in ELS and CPR.
Before the debate, I tried to find out what is going on in the north-east in that regard. Although only 43 north-east schools are currently affiliated to the heartstart scheme that the BHF administers, that is not to say that more schools have not had training from other organisations, such as those that I mentioned. I certainly support the drive to increase the number of schoolchildren who are competent to administer ELS.
Six years ago, a group of medical students at the University of Aberdeen who were newly trained in CPR set up their own heartstart scheme, affiliated to heartstart UK, with the aim of teaching life support in local schools. They hoped to pass on their skills to younger people and give them the confidence to deal with challenging emergency situations.
They had a great deal of help from heartstart UK and university staff in setting up their scheme, and they had plans to extend it to students from Robert Gordon University—also in Aberdeen—to form a collaboration that, as well as providing a community service, would enable students from different areas of healthcare to interact and work together, hopefully building up relationships that would continue into professional life. I have tried to get an update on the scheme from the University of Aberdeen but, unfortunately, the university did not get back to me in time for the debate.
However, there is an on-going collaborative project, which may or may not be associated with the scheme that I just described. It involves the teaching of basic life-support skills by final-year medical students from the University of Aberdeen and final-year nursing students from Robert Gordon University. The recipients of that teaching project are students from the faculty of health and social care, and it has been received with enthusiasm by all students and staff involved. The medical and nursing students are trained together and work in pairs to train their fellow students. It is hoped that, following the success of the project, the concept of peer teaching and an interprofessional approach will become a sustainable part of the curriculum for future students. I can also see how school pupils who are trained could then teach their peers the same skills.
Another collaborative project involves the Grampian Cardiac Rehabilitation Association—a self-help group of heart-attack survivors who are doing sterling work in Aberdeenshire and with whom I have been connected. Through a partnership between St Andrew’s Ambulance Association and RGU, the association’s members have undergone training in CPR and the use of six automated defibrillators that they have purchased, so that they can help to ensure the continuing safety of their cardiac rehabilitation classes throughout the region.
I appreciate that I have digressed a little from the motion, but I fully endorse any moves to train people of all ages—from school pupils, to students, to citizens in general—in CPR and emergency life support. The heartstart scheme is doing a fantastic job, and I am happy to support it and encourage its expansion. I just wanted to emphasise the benefit of collaborative projects in increasing emergency life-support and CPR skills right across our communities.
17:33
I join other members in congratulating Siobhan McMahon on securing the debate, which is worth while.
The British Heart Foundation’s heartstart event, which many of us attended recently, was excellent. It raised awareness of the importance and effectiveness of emergency life-support training among Scotland’s youth. Other members have referred to the excellent presentations that we had from teachers and young people in the programmes in North Lanarkshire and Skye in particular.
Siobhan McMahon mentioned the extent of the heart problem in Scotland. We should not lose sight of the fact that the number of heart attacks is down by something like 40 per cent over the past 25 years, so we are making progress. However, unfortunately, that progress is not taking us ahead of other countries; we still lag behind. Premature deaths are of particular concern because they continue to occur in significant numbers.
The British Heart Foundation Scotland, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and Lucky2BHere have made significant strides in their campaign for implementation of emergency life-support training in Scottish secondary schools. It is an invaluable programme that will equip as many of our young people as possible with the simple skills to save lives if they are confronted with such a situation.
Every child should leave school with knowledge of the vital skills for saving a life. Beyond that, the support education is designed to teach people not only to keep someone alive until professional help arrives, but to assess an unconscious person, to perform CPR, to respond to choking and serious bleeding and to use a defibrillator. The modern defibrillator is pretty foolproof and is not something to be afraid of, but people are still afraid because they think that it is some high-technology piece of machinery. It is, but it has been simplified to the extent that anyone can use it, and they will not do damage as long as they follow the instructions. That is a critical message that we need to get out.
Heartstart notes that the survival rate is under 10 per cent—or even less, depending on where one is; David Stewart mentioned the problems in rural areas. CPR can more than double the chances of survival, and it buys time for professional help to arrive.
Beyond that, we need to know where the defibrillators are. It is important that we map locations and use social media with young people so that they can find out immediately where the nearest defibrillator is and obtain it. The ambulance service is already doing that in an area in Argyll, and I hope that the minister will tell us that the mapping will be extended with the Government’s support.
Other countries including France, Denmark and Norway have made emergency life-support skills compulsory in school curricula. I understand Hugh Henry’s slight concern with regard to Scotland’s tradition of not making such things compulsory, but when one hears statistics such as the 52 per cent survival rate from witnessed cardiac arrests in Norway, one has to ask what should be compulsory and what should not.
I congratulate Madras college in my region, which has trained a number of third-year students and continues to train students. However, I cannot find any schools in the Forth Valley area that are participating—I may just have been short of time for getting that information, but I will raise the issue with the health board’s chief executive tomorrow.
It would be very welcome if all MSPs were to encourage their local shops—perhaps eventually a local shop on every street in their constituency—to have a defibrillator. I found it quite easy to persuade the Thistles shopping centre in Stirling to get a defibrillator, and although I am glad to report that it has not been used in the past four years, people nevertheless feel more confident.
I welcome the motion, and I thank Siobhan McMahon for giving us this opportunity.
17:38
I, too, congratulate Siobhan McMahon on bringing the debate to the chamber.
Last month I also attended the heartstart event in the Parliament that was organised by Lucky2BHere, a charity from Skye that has already been mentioned tonight. The charity was founded by Ross Cowie after he had a close encounter with death, but was resuscitated.
I found myself down on my knees watching three teenagers from Portree high school on the Isle of Skye demonstrate how to use a defibrillator and perform basic emergency life-support procedures on a mannequin. They soon had me practising CPR on the mannequin—which did not, for some reason, like my kiss of life.
In a matter of weeks those teenagers had learned the skills to use a defibrillator and to administer basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation. When it comes to a matter of life and death, those youngsters will be well prepared.
The pupils who demonstrated their skills in the Scottish Parliament last month are part of a much larger group at Portree high school. Heartstart Skye—the team of volunteers that provide the training—has not been given a moment’s peace by those pupils since the programme started.
In April this year, 145 Portree pupils were presented with certificates for completing a short course in basic emergency support. However, the keen pupils are not resting on their laurels—instead, they have invited the training team back to train the current fifth-year pupils. The hope for the future is to train first-year and second-year pupils so that by fifth year, pupils will need only a refresher course. Portree high school is a case study of the benefits of incorporating ELS into the school curriculum. Basic training can save lives. In Skye more than 200 pupils are now able to use their training to save a life, which is crucial in a rural community where an ambulance can take up to 20 or 30 minutes, or more, to arrive.
The initiative is not just a case of imposing another subject on children in an already-packed school syllabus. It is about giving them vital life skills to serve their communities, and about enabling them to care for family members, friends and strangers in a very real way. It is about tapping into their innate compassion and concern for humanity. To top it off, they actually enjoy it. They feel useful and valuable, which is fundamental in developing a child’s character.
The deputy headteacher of Portree high school, Kenny MacDonald, is a strong advocate of teaching ELS in schools, because he has seen that it is vital. When he taught at a school in Johnstone, CPR training was on the curriculum. Of those who received it, one boy had to use CPR on his grandfather and another two boys helped to revive a man who had taken ill while fishing. If only one student is able to use it, surely the training is worth while.
One of the key organisations behind the work of Portree high school is Lucky2BHere. The charity has three aims: community empowerment, education and co-operation. Since its birth in 2007, Lucky2BHere has placed defibrillators across Skye and Lochalsh and it is expanding into other communities.
The training starts when the community engages with the initiative. Communities are encouraged to raise contributory funds through healthy activities. Free emergency life-support training is then provided by volunteers of Skye heartstart team. Finally, a defibrillator is placed in a central location that is accessible to all.
Our schools are training, equipping and resourcing the next generation of Scots. Our hope for Scotland’s future is to see healthier, safer and more caring communities. Teaching ELS in schools is right at the heart of that dream.
17:42
I, too, congratulate Siobhan McMahon on securing the debate on this very important topic.
I am speaking in my capacity as convener of the heart disease and stroke cross-party group, which provides a forum for discussion on prevention, care and treatment of heart disease and stroke among members of the Scottish Parliament, people living with those conditions, the charities working in the field and the health professionals who are involved. We have the invaluable expertise of Ben McKendrick and Louise Peardon, who are with us in the gallery today. I welcome them and thank them very much for all the tremendous support that they give the group.
Since we established the group in 2008, we have had a number of fascinating and informative presentations from speakers from a variety of walks of life, but none of those has been as stimulating or powerful as our discussions around increasing survival from cardiac arrest, particularly what we heard from the speakers from the Skye-based charity Lucky2BHere, which so many other members have mentioned this afternoon. Its work is exemplary and if any charity should get an award, it should. I hope that we all remember that when it comes to the Daily Record competition next year. We should work hard to see whether we can get it an award.
The current Scottish Government and the Labour-led Administration that preceded it have done a good job in cutting deaths from heart disease. Deaths from the condition have fallen significantly over the past 20 years. There is, however, much more to do. Figures from ISD Scotland tell us that 10,752 people died from heart disease in Scotland in 2009. In Fife alone, heart disease took the lives of 776 people in the same year. We can—indeed we must—do better.
One of the ways we can do better is by taking often quite simple steps to improve survival from cardiac arrest. The underlying cause of many cardiac arrests is a fast abnormal rhythm of the heart called ventricular fibrillation. That means that the heart is not beating. It can be reversed, but in that case, as well as the vital ELS skills that we have been hearing about, a piece of equipment is also required. Reversing ventricular fibrillation and therefore being able to save someone’s life in a cardiac-arrest situation requires the use of automated defibrillators.
The cross-party group on heart disease and stroke heard a presentation on the myths that surround AEDs. As Richard Simpson rightly said, any new piece of equipment can be intimidating. However, AEDs are completely safe and it is impossible to do any harm with them in a cardiac-arrest situation. They can be used by anyone; all the user need be able to do is recognise the emergency. Richard Simpson is right that we need to get that message out there, and it does no harm to repeat it.
If an AED is successfully used within the first three minutes of cardiac arrest, there is a 75 per cent chance of survival. As I witnessed when I hosted the ELS event on 5 October, the pupils of Portree high school have been familiarised with an AED as well as learning the ELS skills as part of their curriculum. That has enhanced their confidence to act in any cardiac-arrest situation. In researching the issue for the most recent cross-party group meeting, I was thankful to discover that the Parliament building has AEDs available and that 25 of our staff have been trained in their use. Nevertheless, I encourage colleagues to follow the excellent example of the Portree pupils and to familiarise themselves with that life-saving equipment in case they are ever witness to a cardiac arrest. As I have learned through the ELS event and the CPG, every second counts. I urge the cabinet secretary to consider what more can be done nationally to encourage the siting of more machines in public places where they can be accessed easily.
Before I close, I will touch briefly on heartstart training in schools.
I would be grateful if you closed now.
I urge colleagues to encourage education authorities in their areas to work with BHF Scotland, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and others to ensure that that training is provided as widely as possible.
17:46
I congratulate Siobhan McMahon on securing time for this important debate. It has been a very good debate. I also welcome those in the public gallery who have come along for the debate, particularly Charles Fawcett, whose interest in healthy living goes way beyond Lanarkshire. I share his interest in Malawi and we have a shared friend in Sister Anna Tomassi.
This has been an opportunity to reflect on what more we can do to ensure that children and others in Scotland are better prepared to deal with sudden cardiac arrests. It should be recognised that there has been a 59 per cent reduction in the number of premature coronary heart disease deaths in Scotland since 1995, which is significant progress. Nevertheless, our action plan for heart disease makes it clear that we need to do more to ensure that people have access to the best possible care as quickly as possible.
So far, we have invested £7.5 million in state-of-the-art defibrillators for all Scottish Ambulance Service ambulances. We have also recognised that delay in performing defibrillation can be a significant factor in attending to someone who is having a sudden cardiac arrest. That is why we have increased the provision of automated external defibrillators, which can help to support someone at a very early stage. As Richard Simpson said and Helen Eadie acknowledged, the defibrillators are extremely easy to use. I have been trained to use one in mountain rescue and know that they are literally idiot proof—they would have to be for some members of my team. They work extremely well and must not be used inappropriately if they are not necessary at the time.
The importance of prompt action was highlighted again last week with the news that a defibrillator based in a Zurich football stadium was used to help former Scottish Football Association chief executive David Taylor after he suffered a heart attack in September. I have no doubt that colleagues will join me in wishing him well. Placing defibrillators in stadiums is consistent with international guidelines, which indicate that public access defibrillators should be placed in areas of high footfall.
As part of its community resilience scheme, the Scottish Ambulance Service is currently improving access to PADs throughout remote, rural and urban communities in Scotland. The Ambulance Service is working with Scotmid—as Hugh Henry said—and the British Heart Foundation to map the locations of premises against response times to identify locations where PADs are likely to save more lives. It is also helping Scotmid to purchase and install in-store defibrillators in 40 shops, which involves training and supporting staff. In addition, the Ambulance Service is looking to record PAD locations so that, when a member of the public calls the service about a cardiac event, they can be directed to the closest PAD.
Community resuscitation development officers are based throughout Scotland. They are helping to build community resilience by increasing the number of community first responders and providing training in basic life support across communities. I would like to highlight the importance of community support in all of this. Dave Thompson referred to the Lucky2BHere charity in Skye, which has been rolling out CPR classes across Skye and is now looking to take those further afield. That has worked extremely successfully.
The curriculum for excellence was introduced in all schools in Scotland in August 2010. Its purpose is encapsulated in the four capacities: to enable children and young people to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. The Scottish Government has also set the following national outcomes: for our children to have been given the best start in life and to be ready to succeed; for their life chances and those of their families to have been improved; for us to have strong, resilient and supportive communities; and for the significant inequalities in society to have been tackled.
The curriculum for excellence has an important role to play in promoting health and wellbeing for children and young people, and all of those in the education communities to which they belong. Health and wellbeing is now a curricular area in its own right, with a prominence akin to literacy and numeracy. Learning in health and wellbeing ensures that children and young people develop the knowledge and understanding and the skills, capabilities and attributes that they will need for mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing now and in the future.
That learning will promote excellence, confidence and independent thinking in young people. We also hope that that learning will establish a pattern of health and wellbeing that will be sustained into adult life and will help to promote health and wellbeing for the next generation of Scottish children.
The experiences and outcomes in the curriculum for excellence, which describe the expectations for learning and progression that children should go through, highlight physical wellbeing. The learning covers areas such as knowledge about the human body, assessing and managing risk and the ability to demonstrate how children can keep themselves and others safe.
The curriculum for excellence seeks to empower the teaching profession, enabling practitioners to teach more creatively and providing flexibility so that teachers, schools and local authorities can identify and pursue their own approaches and use their experience to deliver the outcomes.
It is for schools and local authorities to decide what measures to take and what resources to put in place to take the learning forward. I agree with Hugh Henry that we should not prescribe what particular things schools should do. However, I have no doubt that teaching children about emergency life support and CPR would fit very well into the physical wellbeing part of the curriculum for excellence. Like others in the chamber, I encourage local authorities to reflect on that and on the benefit that can be gained from the teaching of emergency life-support skills and to consider including that in their curriculums.
Meeting closed at 17:53.