Sorry Rowley, but I was under the impression that this story was reported as
part of the recent "NHS in a state of collapse" theme. You know, 300 miles
to the nearest SCBU, 250 miles to the nearest burns unit, etc, etc. On that
basis I figure the journalists were simply reporting how stretched we are in
the middle of July, and this is surely a reasonable stance to take. However
I did miss the news yesterday so I may be mistaken, and I'd be grateful if
someone could post a news web URL of the appropriate article.

Of course I would still echo your reservations about denigrating the use of
Fire & Rescue services for defibrillation. Returning to my previous
comments, I've seen a few survivors from VF in the community, and they were
all defibrillated successfully prehospital (if they were still in VF by the
time they reached A&E, then they didn't survive). Of these survivors I've
seen several defibrillated by Fire & Rescue services. But if the public and
the press are to accept this approach, then Fire & Rescue should be used
routinely for such purposes, not solely as a last resort simply because all
other resources are used up. Of course we all know this is the reality of
much of our work these days, but you will surely understand this does not
inspire confidence in the public. The airline navigator may be trained at an
elementary level to land the plane if both pilots become ill simultaneously,
but that is a rare contingency that none of us would be comfortable with. If
it did happen, we should clearly applaud the navigator, but rightly question
why the airline employed two dodgy pilots in the first place!

Adrian Fogarty


----- Original Message -----
From: "Rowley Cottingham" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 6:12 AM
Subject: The Yorkshire fire brigade's defibrillator


> Was I the only person saddened and astonished at the reaction to West
Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance service
> mobilising a fire appliance to a collapsed man? We have spent years and
years trying to extend the training on and
> availability of defibrillators, and when someone thinks very fast and
mobilises a fire appliance with defibrillator and
> people trained to use to a patient in cardiac arrest they have to issue an
apology?
>
> How many of the Service's ambulances at that moment were on genuine calls
that really needed an ambulance? How
> many were dealing with drunks littering streets, hoax calls, people who
needed to be put back to bed and so on?
>
> If anyone here has contacts at the WYMS please can they pass on my thanks
for some fast thinking and completely
> appropriate salvage action.
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
> Rowley Cottingham
>
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.emergencyunit.com
>