A Lordswood man's heart stopped seven times on 18 May, and he has now met the crews who saved him. SECAmb, Dartford's ambulance service, had a record month.
South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb), the trust that answers 999 calls across Kent and Medway, Dartford included, had the highest cardiac arrest survival rate of any ambulance service in England in May, and in that same month a Kent man’s heart stopped seven times on the day his wife rang 999.
Rob, 59, lives in Lordswood, not in Dartford borough. Ten weeks after his cardiac arrest he went to the trust’s Medway Make Ready Centre to thank the people who kept him alive.
Seven cardiac arrests, nearly two hours
Rob was washing his car at the family home on 18 May when he felt numbness in his arm and chest pain, the trust said. His wife, Sue, rang 999 straight away.
Resource Dispatchers Amie and Emily, at the Gillingham Emergency Operations Centre, sent Community First Responder Lisa to the house. Paramedic Georgia and Associate Ambulance Practitioner Jenni arrived soon afterwards, and Rob went into cardiac arrest in front of them while they and Lisa were assessing him.
Paramedic Cameron and Associate Ambulance Practitioner Grace joined the resuscitation, along with Critical Care Paramedic Chris, who gave an anaesthetic bundle to support Rob’s recovery and help protect his brain.
The six restarted his heart, but it stopped a further six times. Crews kept treating him at the scene until, nearly two hours after Sue’s call, his heart held a regular rhythm. He was taken to William Harvey Hospital, where he had emergency surgery to remove a blockage from an artery.
Cameron said: “Seeing Robert walk into the room was a great feeling. Considering the last time I saw him he was post cardiac arrest and still suffering from a heart attack, Robert’s outcome demonstrates how vital early recognition, early CPR, early defibrillation and rapid transfer to advanced care are to a patient’s survival in cardiac arrest. This incident is a prime example that shows how good interagency working and strong teamwork provides the absolute best outcome for our patients.”
A second call, then the reunion
Recovery was not straightforward. Within a month of leaving hospital Rob had chest pains and crews were called again. Associate Ambulance Practitioner Holly and Paramedic Lucy attended, and he was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital for further care.
At the Medway Make Ready Centre he thanked Lisa, Georgia, Jenni, Cameron, Grace, Holly, Lucy, Amie and Emily in person. He has little memory of what they did, so the visit was his chance to hear it, and theirs to hear how he had got on after leaving their care.
Rob said: “Without all of their help the outcome could have been a different story I’m sure. I will be forever in their debt.”
What the May figures show
SECAmb says 17.2 per cent of its cardiac arrest patients in May were alive 30 days later, its best month on record, beating the 15.9 per cent it reached in June and August 2023. The national average for the month was 10.2 per cent.
NHS England’s published data bears that out: 40 of the trust’s 233 patients survived to 30 days, and London was next at 12.3 per cent. Yorkshire had 10.5, the North East 9.8, the West Midlands 9.5, the East Midlands 8.8, South Western and South Central 8.6 each, the East of England 8.5 and the North West 8.3. We have left out the Isle of Wight, which recorded 13 patients.
These are small numbers and one month moves a long way. The same data has the trust at 14.2 per cent in April (34 of 239), and between 10.7 and 17.2 per cent across the 13 months to May. The trust’s figure covers its whole area, and the release gives none for Dartford on its own.
The trust wants to go further, with its five-year strategy aiming to raise cardiac arrest survival by 5 per cent by 2029.
What it means for you
SECAmb says survival falls by about 10 per cent for every minute someone stays in cardiac arrest without CPR and defibrillation, and that most cardiac arrests outside hospital happen in the home. So the person who has to start CPR is often someone in the house.
The same page lists what anyone in Dartford can do:
- Learn in person, free. SECAmb runs CPR training for anyone in the South East. Sign up through the form on its CPR page or email cpr@secamb.nhs.uk.
- Learn online in about 15 minutes. The British Heart Foundation’s free RevivR tool is linked from the same page.
- Volunteer. The page explains how to become a community first responder, the role Lisa was doing when she reached Rob, and how to sign up to GoodSAM.
- Get support afterwards. It also lists help for survivors, families and bystanders, who can all be affected by a cardiac arrest.
The trust’s Kent awards last week honoured a pub landlord who gave eight minutes of CPR in the rain, and it recently thanked a four-year-old who helped on her mum’s 999 call.
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