A defibrillator should be installed in every school in the country, the Scottish Parliament has heard.
The proposal could save lives, MSPs heard, yet it is feared that the machines - which give a high-energy electric shock to the heart to someone who is in cardiac arrest - are not yet on the premises of many schools.
Parliament was discussing the case of Jayden Orr, a 10-year-old ice skater from Port Glasgow who died last August after collapsing on an ice rink. In January, the Show Some Heart campaign was launched in Jayden’s memory by his parents, with a target of reaching £50,000 to fund a defibrillator in every school in Inverclyde.
In Parliament yesterday evening, however, South Scotland MSP Emma Harper said: “Not only Inverclyde schools, but all schools and public arenas should have defibs.” She also said that all pupils should leave school with life-support skills.
Ms Harper had found that only four of 13 secondary schools in her region that responded to an inquiry she made about whether they had defibrillators on their premises.
She added that last Friday she visited one which did, Dalbeattie High School, and watched a class covering basic life support and CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).
Ms Harper said: “About 40 young people were learning how to perform chest compressions and rescue breaths, how to simulate the defibrillator process and even how to deliver simulated shocks. Having defibs in school is part of what we need to support learning. All kids should leave school with basic life-support skills.”
She added: “For every minute that passes without defibrillation, chances of survival decrease by 10 per cent. Seconds count.”
Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Stuart McMillan, who was behind a motion commending the Show Some Heart campaign, said it “makes sense” for a defibrillator to be put in every local school because “schools tend to be in the heart of local communities and large numbers of people gather in them for large parts of the day”.
Mr McMillan also said that, because first responders to emergencies are often bystanders, it is “vital” that they know where to find the machines. He added: “When we reach the [funding] target, which we will, the public will know that there is a defibrillator in the local school, which might just save a life.”
However, Lothian MSP Miles Briggs warned that campaigners for more defibrillators in Scottish communities had found that “some councils still appear unwilling for them to be located in public buildings, including schools”.
Public health and sport Minister Aileen Campbell said: “Since 2015, Save a Life for Scotland partners have worked with schools and community and sports groups, in workplaces and public spaces and at major events to equip more than 200,000 people with CPR skills.”
She added: “Under Curriculum for Excellence, schools have the flexibility to provide emergency or first aid training, and it is up to individual schools and local authorities to decide whether and how best to provide CPR-learning opportunities in the curriculum.”
Ms Campbell said information on the Education Scotland website was making CPR learning “easy, accessible and free” and that CPR training was “already embedded in schools across Scotland”, with help from from organisations including the British Heart Foundation.
