The Department for Education recently announced its intention to get life-saving defibrillators into British schools, with a new scheme to buy defibrillators at a reduced cost. This is a promising push in the right direction for schools around the country, and a government backed push is exactly what is needed to help cut down on the number of sudden cardiac arrest sufferers in schools, as well as the general public.

Recently, Defibrillators have started to rapidly grow in popularity, as people begin to understand the dangers of SCA, and the necessity of an on-hand defibrillator in the resuscitation of a patient. The government also released some statutory guidance on supporting pupils at schools with medical conditions, along with their scheme for defibrillators for schools.

This outlines guidance and statutory laws for governing bodies, management committees, academies, schools, local authorities, parents/carers, pupils, health service providers and the NHS for ensuring that pupils at schools with medical conditions are properly supported.

 

The key points of the guidance:

 

  • Pupils at school with medical conditions should be properly supported so that they have full access to education, including school trips and physical education.

  • Governing bodies must ensure that arrangements are in place in schools to support pupils at school with medical conditions.

  • Governing bodies should ensure that school leaders consult health and social care professionals, pupils and parents to ensure that the needs of children with medical conditions are effectively supported.

 

 

Equipping your school with a defibrillator

Equipping your school with a defibrillator is getting easier and easy. As the technology behind defibrillators gets more advanced, yet easier to use, and the cost has become much more affordable – more and more schools, businesses, councils and and even members of the public, for their car or home, are buying modern defibrillators.

Claiming to know nothing about SCA or First aid is no longer a hindrance in being the hero of the day. Some modern Defibrillators come with voice commands. These are designed to talk through the average, un-medically trained, person how to successfully and efficiently deal with someone who has suffered a SCA. Unlike satellite navigation, which profoundly tells you to go the wrong way, make U-turns and slow down when you’re already going too slow – these Defibrillators talk you through every step of the process with the aim of providing maximum usability to both trained medics and civilians. Anybody can perform emergency resuscitation. Anybody can save a life.

 

Read more on the benefits of a defibrillator for your school, here.

 

Find out more on the government’s plan to get more defibrillators in schools, here.

 

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