(Title Image: Stefanik via Wikipedia under Creative Commons Licence BY-SA-4.0)
In the latest proposal for a backbench member’s legislation, Alun Davies MS (Lab, Blaenau Gwent) put forward a proposal for a Bill which would seek to improve the outcomes of people who have cardiac problems, expand access to public defibrillators and ensure life-saving skills are provided to as many people as possible.
“First aid training saved my life”
For those reading this who didn’t already know, Alun Davies suffered a near-fatal cardiac arrest back in the spring of this year whilst out running.
While a cardiac plan is in place, several members have campaigned for life-saving skills such as CPR to be routinely taught in schools and colleges. While the number of available public defibrillators has increased, what was equally important was being able to find them quickly and to use them “within minutes”. Only 3% of people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Suzy Davies MS (Con, South Wales West) – whose campaigned for routine first aid training for years – reminded the chamber that routine life-saving skills training is something the Senedd has backed in the past. It’s also top of the list of skills the Welsh Youth Parliament would want to see included in the new curriculum.
Mick Antoniw MS (Lab, Pontypridd) – whose wife died of a sudden cardiac arrest – said he had given CPR to her “for what seemed like an eternity”. He expressed support for routine scanning for underlying heart conditions.
Dr Dai Lloyd MS (Plaid, South Wales West) said that while there may be concerns from bystanders about causing harm to someone who’s suffered a cardiac arrest. Putting it into stark terms, he said they’re already dead – hence the very low survival rate out-of-hospital – and it’s difficult to make the situation any worse by intervening.
More than 5,000 public defibrillators available in Wales
Health Minister, Vaughan Gething (Lab, Cardiff S. & Penarth), said it was always powerful when MSs talk about personal experiences.
The starting point for him would be to prevent poor cardiac health in the first place as part of a broader public health strategy covering smoking, alcohol and obesity.
“There’s been a steady increase in the number of defibrillators mapped into the Welsh ambulance dispatch system. We now have….5,042 defibrillators across Wales available to the public now registered, and the establishment of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest register to better map the data surrounding out-of-hospital cardiac arrests….from onset to treatment and discharge from hospital.”
– Health Minister, Vaughan Gething
As there was a cardiac action plan already in place which is yet to run its course, the Welsh Government couldn’t back the idea. However, he didn’t rule out legislative measures in the future if progress is too slow.
The vote itself was non-binding and more on a point of principle:
