Heart Smart Blackpool
Heart Smart Blackpool is an initiative launched by North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust and
BSafe* Blackpool in 2010. It aimed to provide blanket coverage of life saving equipment, in the form
of defibrillators, located at key venues across Blackpool.
Defibrillators were strategically placed around the town to help victims of the most extreme
emergency - cardiac arrest. If a person has a cardiac arrest they lose consciousness at once and there
are no signs of life. Defibrillators give an electric shock through the chest wall and help to restore a
normal heartbeat. No one knows who will suffer from cardiac arrest, but what is known is that help
within the first few minutes improves the outcome for the patient.
Blackpool was the first town in the North West to benefit from the Heart Smart initiative and the
scheme was believed to be unique, nationally, specifically in its targeting of the pub and club scene.
Funding was secured by BSafe Blackpol from NHS Blackpool and the British Heart Foundation and
twenty five defibrillators were placed in the town’s biggest attractions and busy venues including
Blackpool Tower, Pleasure Beach, Norbreck Castle Hotel, Queen’s Park Flats, Blackpool Beach Patrol,
Houndshill Shopping Centre, The Metropole, Sandcastle, Syndicate Night Club and the Safe Haven Bus
to name but a few.
Almost 250 members of staff from these venues received emergency life support training, provided
for free by North West Ambulance Service, which included CPR and operating a defibrillator – giving
them all the potential to save a life.
To recognise the significance of Heart Smart, a celebratory launch event took place at Blackpool
Tower on Friday 10 September 2010. The event included speeches by key partners such as the Chair
of the British Heart Foundation’s Emergency Life Support and Defibrillation Committee, hands-on
emergency life support demonstrations from community first responders, the official hand over of
the Tower’s very own defibrillator and most importantly, the chance to hear from victims of cardiac
arrest whose lives were saved because of defibrillators.
* BSafe Blackpool is the Blackpool Community Safety and Drugs Partnership which is led by Blackpool
Council, NHS Blackpool, Lancashire Constabulary, Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service, Lancashire Police
Authority, Lancashire Probation Trust, working in partnership with North West Ambulance Service.
Case Studies
Zoe Smith
On 24 October 2008, new mum Zoe Smith, then aged 26, from Bispham in Blackpool was having a bad
day – her washing machine and boiler had broken so she decided to get out of the house with her
daughter Phoebe and visit the park. It was just after 2pm when she returned and a friend brought
round an electric heater for Zoe and her partner Jeremy to borrow until their boiler had been fixed.
Suddenly Zoe felt really sick. Her next memory was waking up in hospital.
Zoe was unconscious and fitting. Her friend called 999 for an ambulance. The call was prioritised as
Category A which means the patient’s condition presents an immediate threat to life. In this type of
incident, a quick response is vital and the ambulance service sometimes uses rapid response vehicles
(RRVs) manned by a paramedic to get through traffic quicker than full size ambulances.
RRV Paramedic David Mollart was immediately sent to help Zoe, closely followed Paramedics
Samantha Jones and Alan Mitchell in an ambulance. Five minutes later Zoe had stopped fitting but
was struggling to breathe normally and then she suffered a cardiac arrest. Using a defibrillator, the
paramedics shocked Zoe back to life, gave her oxygen and took her to Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
The hospital gave Zoe treatment known as therapeutic hypothermia– where the body temperature is
lowered to prevent tissue injury after a period of insufficient blood flow. Within hours Zoe was kicking
out her legs and arms and had woken up asking questions. However she only had a two minute
memory! An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) was fitted in Zoe’s chest and she was
discharged from hospital. However Zoe suffered complications and was rushed back in to hospital for
two weeks where she had to have her ICD removed. The hospital gave Zoe a life vest so that she could
return home for Christmas. Life vests are wearable defibrillators which monitor the heart and deliver
a shock an abnormal heart rhythm is detected.
In January 2009 she was well enough to undergo another operation to fit another ICD. Zoe now has
her memory back and has returned to work.
John McArthur
On 30 November 2009, John McArthur from Lytham St Annes, then aged 60, was at Preston Railway
Station and was collecting his tickets when suddenly he collapsed and stopped breathing. He had
suffered a cardiac arrest.
A nurse was next to John in the ticket queue and immediately grabbed the defibrillator located on the
wall at the railway station, assisted by two officers from the British Transport Police, she shocked
John once with the defibrillator.
An ambulance was called. The call was prioritised in the ambulance emergency control centre as
Category A which means the patient’s condition presents an immediate threat to life. In this type of
incident, a quick response is vital and the ambulance service sometimes uses rapid response vehicles
(RRVs) manned by a paramedic which gets through traffic quicker than full size ambulances.
Advanced Paramedic Rhian Monteith who was in a rapid response vehicle immediately went to help
John, closely followed by Paramedic John May and Technician Kath Hill in an ambulance. When they
arrived John was breathing just four breathes a minute on his own. Rhian ventilated John until he was
breathing sufficiently on his own whilst Paramedic John kept a caring eye on his patient’s heart
rhythms.
John woke up 10 days later in the critical care unit at Royal Preston Hospital. To this day he does not
remember going to the railway station on the morning of his cardiac arrest. He spent another 10 days
in critical care and then four days on a ward before he was sent home. For a while he was feeling
weak, poorly and also lost his taste sense.
It was revealed that blocked arteries caused John’s cardiac arrest.
Speaking of the Heart Smart initiative John said: “My life was saved because there was a defibrillator
at the railway station and a nurse there who knew what to do. It is reassuring to know about the
Heart Smart scheme. The fact that people and organisations can offer support like this to cardiac
arrest victims is marvelous.”