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The government currently has no such plans.

The Scottish Government published Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Strategy for Scotland in March 2015. We continue to work with a wide range of stakeholders to deliver the aims of the strategy and improve outcomes for people experiencing out of hospital cardiac arrest.

In the context of a complex, multi-organisational system, it is difficult to calculate the net additional costs of improving out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) given that it is not clear at this stage what proportion of the proposed improvements might be absorbed through different and more effective use of existing resources. Or what efficiencies might be achieved through better co-ordination amongst stakeholders.

Since announcing in October 2014 that an OHCA strategy would be produced, the government has committed over £300,000 to support delivery. Statutory organisations, including the Scottish Ambulance Service and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and third sector organisations, including Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland and the British Heart Foundation have also invested significant resources.

A number of police officers are already trained in the use of defibrillators, e.g. through the First Aid at Work scheme. Police Scotland has undertaken to add training in the use of defibrillators to the annual Scottish Police Emergency Lifesaving Saving Course. This means that by the end of 2016 all serving police officers – up to and including the Chief Constable – will be trained in the use of defibrillators.

There are already established emergency care pathways in place for patients who experience out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). These pathways involve support from Ambulance Control Centres to help initiate bystander CPR, rapid response by the Scottish Ambulance Service and a range of emergency co-responders, for example Community First Responders and BASICS responders, resuscitation and rapid transfer to the nearest Emergency Department.

The Institute for Social Marketing, School of Health Sciences, University of Stirling has been commissioned to undertake a survey to provide baseline information on the number of people trained. In addition, we are working with the British Heart Foundation and other third sector organisations to explore options for measuring the number of people who undergo CPR training.

The Scottish Ambulance Service continually works to improve ambulance response times in all parts of the country. In acknowledgement of the time critical nature of cardiac arrest response and the clearly defined elements of the ‘chain of survival’, the service is working with a range of partner agencies, community responder groups and projects to optimise the chain of survival in all parts of the country. Some of these pathways are currently under development such as the Sandpiper Wildcat project, which will create a network of trained cardiac responders across the north east of Scotland. In rural Grampian there are emerging pilot projects between the Scottish Ambulance Service and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. In other remote and rural areas the service works closely with BASICS responders and our network of Community First Responders in Scotland.

As part of the implementation of the Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy, the government is working with stakeholders to consider how to maximise the value of public access defibrillators.

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) encourages all those considering purchasing a Public Access Defibrillator to contact the service beforehand – information can be found on the SAS website (www.scottishambulance.com) – in order that communities can be provided with information of the service protocol. The Memorandum of Understanding defines the responsibilities of the two parties in the provision of an Automated External Defibrillator until the arrival of the statutory ambulance response. It also provides information on the registration and maintenance of devices.

Plans to raise public awareness of cardiac arrest are being developed in partnership with stakeholders. One strand of this will be to use European Restart a Heart Day on 16 October 2015 as a focus for activity.

Our staff are at the heart of our NHS. Their health and wellbeing is something the government takes very seriously. The Staff Governance Standard for NHSScotland commits all boards to providing a continuously improving and safe working environment promoting the health and wellbeing of staff, patients and the wider community. Through our monitoring arrangements, we are ensuring that boards, including the Scottish Ambulance Service, have policies and actions in place to support staff.

In December 2014, we allocated an additional £200,000 to the Scottish Ambulance Service to fund activities which will address the health and welfare needs of staff.

The Scottish Government has no intention of changing these arrangements and will continue to provide this option to trade union members employed in the Scottish Government. However, it is for local authorities as separate employers to operate their payroll systems in a way which most appropriately reflects their business needs.