Tag: St John Ambulance

Prime Minister call for volunteers to support National Booster Effort

  • UK Government and NHS announce ambition to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers to help get jabs into arms
  • All eligible adults will be offered the chance to get their jab before the New Year
  • PM: “We need you to come forward again, to work alongside our brilliant GPs, doctors, nurses and pharmacists, to deliver jabs and save lives.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard have joined forces to issue a rallying cry for thousands of volunteers to come forward and support the NHS booster campaign.

The public will be urged to play a crucial role in the UK’s fight against Omicron by helping the NHS to get as many jabs into arms as quickly as possible. No task will be too small to contribute towards this national effort.

Yesterday the Prime Minister announced a new ambition for every eligible adult to have the chance to get their jab by the end of the year.

This follows new evidence that suggest the Omicron variant is extremely transmissible and two jabs are not enough to protect against infection.

The new target means the NHS will be massively ramping up its vaccine operations in the next few days, and it needs as many people as possible to play their part by volunteering their time to help.

Urging volunteers to sign up to the booster drive, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “As part of our Get Boosted Now vaccination drive we need to increase our jabbing capacity to unprecedented levels.

“But to achieve something on this scale, we need your help. So today I’m issuing a call for volunteers to join our national mission to get jabs in arms.

“We need tens of thousands of people to help out – everyone from trained vaccinators to stewards.

“Many thousands have already given their time – but we need you to come forward again, to work alongside our brilliant GPs, doctors, nurses and pharmacists, to deliver jabs and save lives.

“So please come forward if you can.”

There are now almost 3,000 vaccine sites across the country, staffed by over 90,000 volunteers who have given up 1.1 million hours of time so far.

In the next week hundreds more sites, mobile units and pop ups will be springing up across the country. These will be in a range of locations that will make it as easy as possible for people to get boosted – such as at football stadia, shopping centres and racecourses.

This means volunteers are needed to perform tasks such as registering patients, managing queues and giving jabs.

Last week the NHS announced a recruitment drive for 10,000 paid vaccinators and support staff and that it will also work with the Royal Voluntary Service and St. John Ambulance to recruit a further 40,000 volunteers for roles such as admin and stewarding queues.

In the last week, 13,000 people have come forward as steward volunteers, and a further 4,500 people have registered their interest to take up one of the 10,000 paid vaccinator roles. The government and NHS now want to go even further.

NHS England Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard said: “In the face of the grave threat posed by the new Omicron strain of Covid, the NHS is seeking to offer vaccine booster protection to all eligible adults by the end of the month, a new national mission in which everyone can play their part.

“There is no doubt that our incredible NHS staff will rise to the challenge but we cannot do this alone – we need the support of the public and volunteers to once again support the Covid vaccination programme.

“Since we first issued a call to arms we have had an outstanding response but Omicron has shifted the goalposts and we are now renewing our plea to the nation – I would urge anyone who has volunteered in the past, or considered it but not taken up the opportunity, to come forward now – search ‘NHS vaccine team’ today and find out more about how you can help us save lives.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “To help us turbocharge our COVID-19 booster programme we need people across the country to join our national mission to get boosted now.

“We are so grateful to the volunteer vaccinators from organisations such as St John Ambulance and Royal Voluntary Service who have made an enormous contribution by administering millions of vaccinations since the start of this year.”

People interested in either a voluntary or paid role are urged to visit the Join Vaccine Team page or search ‘NHS vaccine team’. People who volunteered or were trained for paid roles previously are also being contacted to help out again.

Scotland’s First Minister will make a statement on the situation in Scotland this afternoon. It’s expected that restrictions will be strengthened here as Omicron variant cases continue to rise sharply across the UK.

Armed forces step up to support vaccination drive across UK

750 Armed Forces personnel have been made available to support the NHS, the Department of Health and Social Care and Scottish Government to accelerate the vaccine booster programme.

Over 100 personnel are currently supporting the vaccine rollout in Scotland. 600 Armed Forces personnel have been made available to NHS England to administer vaccines, working in small teams across the country.

In addition, around 50 personnel will provide planning support to NHS England. 41 planners will deploy to NHS trusts across England and 10 logistics experts will be based at NHS England’s headquarters in London.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “We have rapidly mobilised Service personnel to work alongside our dedicated health services to accelerate the vaccine booster programme.

“Our Armed Forces will help to get vaccines into arms as quickly as possible as we continue our efforts to support the UK’s response to the pandemic.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “We are turbocharging our COVID-19 booster programme to offer every adult in England a vaccine by the end of the year to protect people from the Omicron variant.

“Building our defences through boosters is a hugely important national mission and it’s brilliant to see the military supporting our NHS staff in our race against the virus.

“Please get boosted now to top-up your immunity and keep yourself and your loved ones safe this winter.”

Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said: “I’m proud of our Armed Forces who are once again stepping up to help protect people and communities.

“We have a long history of working hand in hand with the NHS as two organisations with a common goal – to help keep our people safe.”

Planners based at NHS England headquarters will be led by Brigadier Phil Prosser who was previously deployed to support the delivery of the vaccine programme which began in December 2020. They will work alongside NHS England to maximise existing capacity and ensure the vaccine programme can be delivered at pace.

Since March 2020, Defence has supported over 430 tasks as part of Operation Rescript – Defence’s support to the UK’s response to the pandemic.

Defence is currently supporting ambulance services in Wales and Scotland and the vaccine rollout in Scotland among other tasks including testing.

Support is being provided through the Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) process.

Personnel supporting on Operation Rescript tasks have deployed from across the three services – Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force – and are a mixture of regulars and reservists.

Register your defibrillator to help save lives across Scotland

The Circuit: Charities and health organisations urge people to register their defibrillators on database to help save lives  

A new campaign has been launched across Scotland to urge defibrillator owners to register their devices on a national database to help save more lives from cardiac arrests.

Leading charities and health organisations have come together calling for defibrillators to be registered on The Circuit – The national defibrillator network, which connects defibrillators to NHS ambulance services across the UK, so that in those crucial moments after a cardiac arrest they can be accessed quickly to help save lives.

  • There are around 3,200 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests every year in Scotland, but only one in ten people survive.
  • Every minute that passes without CPR or defibrillation reduces the chances of survival by up to 10 per cent in some instances, but immediate CPR and defibrillation can more than double the chances of survival.
  • It’s estimated that public-access defibrillators (PADs) are used in less than one in ten out-of-hospital cardiac arrests across the UK – often because 999 call handlers aren’t always aware that a defibrillator is available nearby because the ambulance service hasn’t been told about it. If they don’t know it is there, they can’t direct someone at the scene to retrieve it while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. 

To help save more lives, The British Heart Foundation (BHF), Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) St John Ambulance and Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), are urging people who look after defibrillators in places such as offices, communities, shopping centres and leisure centres, as well as in public places, to register them on The Circuit.

James Jopling, Head of BHF Scotland, said: ““Every second counts when someone has a cardiac arrest and, alongside CPR, prompt use of a defibrillator is critical in giving them the best chance of survival.

“To put it simply, knowing where the nearest defibrillator is could be the difference between life and death.

“The Circuit is pioneering technology which will help emergency services direct bystanders more quickly to a defibrillator when someone collapses with a cardiac arrest. But for The Circuit to save lives, it is vital that unregistered defibrillators are put on the system. If you, or somebody you know is a defibrillator guardian, then we urge you to register your device on The Circuit. You could help save a life.”

Pauline Howie, Chief Executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: “When someone calls 999 to report a cardiac arrest, the call handlers in our control rooms are trained to provide the location of the nearest registered defibrillator within 500m of the call. 

“Studies show that using a defibrillator within three minutes of collapse, along with starting CPR, can greatly increase chances of survival.  

“This swift action can make a real difference, and The Circuit is a vital tool in helping increase bystander action to help someone in cardiac arrest. Over the last five years, the Save a Life for Scotland (SALFS) partnership which includes SAS, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has equipped over 640,000 people with CPR skills, and the survival rate after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has doubled to one in ten people. 

“However, there’s more we can do, and to help save even more lives, we would urge everyone to register the defibrillators that they are responsible for on The Circuit, so that they can be easily located and accessed when needed.”  

Dr James Cant, Chief Executive Officer at Resuscitation Council UK, said: “A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Not only is defibrillator use a crucial step in the Chain of Survival, the presence of defibrillators in public places can help raise awareness and stimulate people to think about what they would do in an emergency. 

“Survival depends on all links in the Chain of Survival being carried out quickly. This means early recognition and calling for help, early CPR, early defibrillation and post resuscitation care – and The Circuit plays a vital role in giving people their best chance of surviving a sudden cardiac arrest.”

While the 14 UK ambulance services have previously had their own regional databases, The Circuit will eventually replace these with a new national database that lets the ambulance services see defibrillators across the UK once it has been rolled out. This will allow them to direct people to the nearest defibrillator when somebody is having a cardiac arrest, wherever they are.

The Circuit, which is already live in 12 of the 14 ambulance service regions across the UK[1] and will become nationwide soon, could help to save thousands of lives – but it is vital that as many defibrillators as possible are registered on the database for it to work effectively. 

It’s free to register your defibrillator onto The Circuit, and you only have to do it once. You can also register multiple defibrillators if you are the guardian to more than one.

Visit TheCircuit.UK for more information or to register your defibrillator. 

Calls for compulsory Sudden Cardiac Arrest training to all involved in sport

Leading organisations have come together to call for compulsory sudden cardiac arrest training for all involved in the delivery of sport, during SADS (Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome) Awareness Week (4-10 October).

The campaign is spearheaded by UK Coaching, Resuscitation Council UK and the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust (JHMT) – a charity set up after the tragic loss of Joe Humphries, who died while out jogging with his friend nine years ago this week.

Every week in the UK twelve people under the age of 35 die of sudden cardiac arrest and, of those who experience sudden cardiac arrest outside of hospital, only one in ten survive. If effective action is taken within the first minute, it can treble chances of survival.

The organisations, alongside influential figures which include one of Britain’s greatest Paralympic athletes, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and former England rugby captain and Patron of JHMT, Martin Johnson, are urging everybody who actively delivers sport to undertake sudden cardiac arrest training.

UK Coaching offers a free eLearning course which provides the knowledge and confidence to respond quickly and appropriately in the event of sudden cardiac arrest. The toolkit, funded by Sport England, has been created by UK Coaching in collaboration with Resuscitation Council UK, St John Ambulance and the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust.

Martin Johnson said: “It is so important that everybody who leads or participates in sport knows what to do in cases of sudden cardiac arrest. Sudden cardiac arrests kill 60,000 people outside of hospital in the UK every year and in lots of cases, this could be avoided.

“However, it’s no use people having the skills and knowledge to act if there isn’t a defibrillator nearby. Immediate access to an AED along with CPR gives that person the best possible chance of survival. AEDs need to be as commonplace as fire extinguishers.”

The organisations have also written an open letter to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Nadine Dorries, to urge her to mandate sudden cardiac arrest training, as well as ensuring every sporting venue has a defibrillator on site.

UK Coaching’s Chief Executive, Mark Gannon, added: “There have been numerous high-profile instances of sudden cardiac arrest this year and it’s left many questioning if they would know what to do, where the nearest defib is, and most importantly the need to give everyone, from coaches to players, facility staff, parents and spectators, the knowledge and confidence to act fast – because every second really does count. 

“It shouldn’t be down to luck – every sporting venue must have an AED on site and sports should be making the course mandatory. I hope we can start a dialogue with Government because every person trained could be another life saved. All it takes is 30 minutes.

“Where we can start to make real strides is by working with National Governing Bodies and sporting organisations to implement the training internally, but our ultimate goal is to make this law.”

To access and complete the free course, go to www.ukcoaching.org/sca