It only takes a minute re: SADS

[Sharon_H]

To sign this e-petition for a very worthy cause.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/29399

SADS can go on undetected, and is something which can affect people aged between 12 & 35 years old. It can be detected by simply having an ECG test.

The Oliver King Foundation was set up following the death of Oliver King, a 12 year old boy who died in Wavertree of SADS.

We call on the Government to introduce defibrillators to all public buildings by 2017, and provide staff with the appropriate training. We also call on the Government to offer all people aged between 12 & 35 a simple ECG test, which could reduce the current death rate of 12 young people a week.

Thank you for reading and hopefully signing.

[Huguenot]

Whilst I can see the benefits of the proposal, I do wonder about the cost.

There's at least 40,000 public buildings in the UK (because that was how many took part in an energy survey recently).

A defibrillator costs around ?1000 to acquire, and I'm guessing that training at least 3 people to use it at each location would cost an additional ?1000 per venue.

So that would mean that the defibrillator proposal alone would cost at least ?80million in the first year, and probably at least half that every year for refresher training and maintenance.

An annual ECG test for the 15 million people who fall into that age brack will be around ?50 each per annum or around ?750 million pounds annually in total.

So the whole proposal will likely cost around ?800 million per year.

Not only that, but the proposal can't make any estimate about what the impact of those two exercises would be on actual lives saved. That's a hell of a lot of money to spend on guesswork.

Now I know that instinctively everybody will knee jerk respond by saying 'I want that test', but are we absolutely sure that ?800 million per year on healthcare can't be spent more wisely than on what is after all a VERY rare condition.

[Otta]

Fair points both H, but perhaps if nothing else it could raise some awareness, I'd never heard of this syndrome before.

Anyway, I signed.

[Huguenot]

Absolutely take the point on awareness. That would be a good idea, if only it motivated people to check their own health.

[Saffron]

I thought the new style defibs were meant to be usable by anyone, no special training?

[Sharon_H]

From the British Heart Foundation website:

It?s very easy to use an AED. The rescuer turns the machine on which then gives voice prompts, telling the rescuer what to do. The rescuer will be asked to put pads into position on the person?s chest. These pads detect electrical activity in the heart and will be able to tell if a shock is needed.

Anyone can use an AED, but it's preferable that people receive training first. It would be better if more people were trained in CPR, which buys time before defibrillation.

[EatsDulwich]

I agree with Otta that it's important to raise awareness - so few people know about SADS. I only do because my sister was a teacher at Oliver's school.

[Mick Mac]

Why do we need a petition - does this mean this idea has been met with a refusal through normal channels?

[Huguenot]

Well I guess at almost ?1bn cost, it wouldn't have been met with open arms, not least because there'd be a few questions about whether the proposed solution would have a real impact on lives saved.

For example, what are the odds on the defibrillator proposal given that the victim would have to collapse and be correctly diagnosed in a public building within reach of a defibrillator and a trained practitioner who knew where it was and could implement correctly in the 3 minutes before brain death.

I remember that on the railways a few years back the price of a human life was calculated at around ?4m. In other words investment in safety equipment would have to plausibly save 1 life for every ?4m spent.

If similar maths applied in the SADS world, the proposal would have to save at least 200 deaths a year - which would be a big ask.

So I think the petition is great for publicity, but I fear it would fall short in the real world.

[Mick Mac]

What I was getting at was that we should trust the normal channels. Has it been proposed through the normal channels?

Is everyone who signed the petition either 1) happy to pay the extra tax that this will cost - or 2) accept the shortcomings that would have to be made elsewhere (in the NHS?) to accommodate this additional cost ?

[Saffron]

Can you explain what you meant by "proposed through the normal channels"?

(I'm not having a dig at you. I'm honestly not sure exactly what you mean. xx)