As a former medical officer in the British Army, and having worked in the Major Trauma Service at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB), Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP is calling on community organisations to urgently apply for defibrillator funding.
Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst, the Member of Parliament for Solihull West and Shirley, knows how vital quick access to a defibrillator is during a cardiac arrest. The funding was made available by the last Government, by running a £1 million match funded Community Automated External Defibrillators Fund. The Fund aims to help save lives by increasingr the number of defibrillators in public places..
Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP said:
“Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) causes 100,000 deaths in the UK each year and there are 60,000 incidents of SCA each year in community settings. I know that using a defibrillator within three minutes of a cardiac arrest can improve a person’s chance of survival by as much as 70%.
A better provision of defibrillators, and increasing the number of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, could help save more lives of those who have a cardiac arrest outside a hospital setting.
I’m strongly encouraging local organisations and groups who manage community spaces to apply for this funding for life-saving funding equipment. We need to grow our defibrillator network across the borough, so that more lives can be saved in the future.
In addition, I am pleased to announce that as my charity fundraiser for the year, I will be raising money for defibrillators locally, as I campaign to improve the network of these life saving devices across Solihull West and Shirley.”
Organisations can apply for funding through the Department of Health and Social Care by going to their website: https://www.defibgrant.co.uk/.
