Ambulance UK - June 2021

NEWSLINE
AMBULANCE UK - JUNE
NEAS
Life-saving initiative
for the Tees area
New scheme assists
communities most at need to
purchase defibrillators
Hundreds more lives will be saved
across the Tees Valley in a new
partnership between the North
East Ambulance Service (NEAS)
and Labmask.
Money generated by the Labmask
initiative, based at the Stokesleybased
company Labman
Automation, which supplied crucial
personal protective equipment
to the NHS at the height of the
pandemic, is being ploughed
back in to community resuscitation
equipment across the Tees area.
The investment of £50,000 of
Labmask funds over the next
14 months, together with NEAS
charitable Trust Fund backing, will
go towards helping communities
purchase their own defibrillators and
learn vital CPR skills and knowledge.
Fewer than one in 20 people
currently survive a cardiac arrest
in the North East. This is the
lowest rate in England lower
than other European countries
where the rate of survival is as
much as one in two in some
places. Amongst the factors that
contribute to this is people not
recognising that someone’s heart
has stopped, people’s reluctance
to start CPR and also the lack of
early access to a defibrillator.
Rob Hodgson, Senior Manager at
Labman Automation and Labmask
representative said: “We were
looking to assist with a project
that not only helps health care
professionals, but also helps the
community. This partnership with the
NEAS allows us to ensure the North
East is as safe as we can make it.”
The company has manufactured
hundreds of thousands of plastic
face shields for hospitals to help
with protection against COVID.
They chose to work with NEAS
because the ambulance service’s
charitable fund had already been
targeting areas where defibrillators
were lacking in the community
and supporting residents with a
grant to support the purchase of
life-saving equipment.
Kevin Scollay, group director of
finance for North East Ambulance
Service, said: “By working together
we can help fund public access
defibrillators in areas we have
identified as being in most need,
as well as delivering familiarisation
sessions to the communities,
showing people how to deliver CPR
and use a defibrillator, reducing
peoples’ fears and anxiety about
around cardiac arrest.”
Within five minutes of someone’s
heart stopping beating (cardiac
arrest), there can be irreversible
brain damage as a result of a
lack of blood and oxygen. And
for every minute that passes
without CPR (pumping on the
person’s chest) and defibrillation,
the chance of survival decreases
between 7 to 10 percent.
Alex Mason, community
resuscitation officer for NEAS,
said: “The chance of survival
increases just by someone
realising what’s happened
and calling an ambulance
quickly. If they then start chest
compressions, they are buying
time and keeping the person’s
brain supplied with blood and
oxygen; and increase that chance
of survival by 8 percent. If there
is a defibrillator available and
someone uses it, the chance
increases by 20 percent.”
The aim of this life-saving
scheme is to increase the number
defibrillators across the Tees
Valley area where they are most
needed. As communities in these
identified areas come forward,
NEAS and money from Labmask
will partially fund the purchase of
new defibrillators to be stored in
weatherproof cabinets fixed to the
outside of buildings. They will be
available to the public 24 hours
a day by calling 999. In addition,
information and training for
defibrillator use will be provided
via familiarisation sessions, online
videos and leaflets.
YAS
Prestigious national
award for ambulance
nurses
Two nurses at Yorkshire
Ambulance Service have been
honoured for their outstanding
leadership by Ruth May, Chief
Nursing Officer for England.
Clare Ashby, Deputy Director
of Quality and Nursing, and Iffa
Settle, Head of Safety and Infection
Prevention and Control (IP&C)
Lead, have received Chief Nursing
Officer Silver Awards which
recognise major contributions to
patients and the profession by
nurses and midwives.
They were presented with their
accolades by Ruth May via video
link on 28 April.
She said: “I am delighted to be
able to present Clare and Iffa
with Chief Nursing Officer awards
and recognise their inspirational
leadership at Yorkshire
Ambulance Service.
“They are both amazing and
inspirational nurse leaders and I
am really pleased that I have been
able to personally thank them for
their work.”
Iffa Settle and Clare Ashby (L-R)
Clare and Iffa were nominated by
Steve Page, Executive Director
of Quality, Governance and
Performance Assurance for
Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
He said: “Clare and Iffa are key
leaders in quality and safety and
the Trust’s two qualified infection
protection and control (IP&C)
nurses.
“In 2018-19 they made the
case and led work to champion
a £500,000 development for
replacement of FFP3 masks with
respiratory protective hoods for
frontline staff, then leading the
training and introduction into
practice. This has proven very
prescient and fundamentally
improved our ability to protect
staff against respiratory infection
risks including COVID-19.
“Beyond the impressive delivery
of their day jobs, they have
been amazing as a team during
COVID-19 from its onset. They have
provided specialist (frequently 24/7)
IP&C leadership and have given
intensive support and guidance
for individual staff. They have
supported the Trust and its staff
through extremely challenging and
uncharted situations.
“They display visible and
energised leadership,
demonstrating the value of
nursing skills, experience and
patient-centred ethos in the
multi-professional ambulance
service environment. They have
led developments resulting in
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