Holt and Community First Response

The concept of First Response originates with Dr Richard Cummins of Seattle, USA. He discovered that if a series of responsive measures took place in a set sequence a heart attack victim had a greater chance of survival. These events are known as the 'Chain of survival'. The chain consists of: early access/assessment; early resuscitation; early defibrillation and finally early Advanced Life Support.

The key, of course, is the time elapsed from the beginning of the attack to the first stage of treatment - resuscitation.

Time elapsed from first contact to the Paramedic's arrival at scene for an Emergency C AT:A call should be a maximum of eight minutes.

The problem is geography. The reality is that the nearest ambulance is sometimes beyond this distance. Inevitable really, in a county as large as Norfolk.

Inevitable but far from ideal – especially when you consider the requirements of the 'Chain of survival'. In bleak terms, in some cases, for every minute that goes past without life support reduces a casualty's chance of survival by up to 10%.

However when a First Response scheme is put in practice by increasing public awareness, training in basic life support and community based Automated External Defibrillations, these events have improved the pre hospital survival rate to between 25% and 30%

The East of England Ambulance NHS Trust believes that by introducing a scheme where Community Responders are trained in providing the first three events in the chain, there would be a significant improvement in the chance of survival to patients in this region.