The Air Ambulance Service (TAAS) will voluntarily hold Automated External Defibrillators at home to assist communities with early defibrillation. 

The new initiative is aimed at boosting community response to out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. 

Spearheaded by the TAAS  Operations team members with Critical Care Paramedic Sam Cooper leading on the project, it involves voluntarily using these AEDs outside of working hours, a step forward in improving survival rates for cardiac emergencies.

Recently, 11 new AEDs were delivered to the team, significantly enhancing the prospects for individuals having outside-of-hospital cardiac emergencies.

TAAS operates the Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA), the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA), and the national Children’s Air Ambulance (TCAA).

The team members involved in this lifesaving initiative span from frontline critical care paramedics to the chief operating officer.

The AEDs will be deployed in response to calls for help from the local NHS ambulance service via the GoodSAM app, a platform designed to mobilise members of the public to administer early CPR and defibrillation to cardiac arrest patients.

Mark Wilson OBE, co-founder and director of GoodSAM, said: "GoodSAM is delighted to be working with The Air Ambulance Service in improving cardiac arrest survival.

"GoodSAM incorporates the world's most advanced alerting, dispatching, and tasking platform with a community of highly governed trained and trusted responders.

“The GoodSAM cardiac system integrates with ambulance service CAD (computer aided dispatch) systems to trigger bystander response while the ambulance service is on route. This early intervention saves many lives each year.”

The iPAD NFK200, launched in 2023 by WEL Medical, is the preferred AED for this project.

CCP Sam Cooper said: "TAAS has been at the forefront of delivering pre-hospital critical care for over 20 years.

"With this initiative, the organisation extends its reach beyond traditional emergency response measures, actively participating in the initial stages of the survival chain.

"We’d like to acknowledge WEL Medical who supplied our team with the AEDs – they gave us a generous discount on the units which we're extremely grateful for, as these will help to save more lives.”

With more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests annually in the UK, immediate CPR and AED use can more than double survival chances.

The Air Ambulance Service relies completely on public donations for its operations and initiatives like this one.

Mr Cooper said: “We could only launch this initiative because of funding from generous supporters who have left gifts in their Wills to us, so we thank them and everyone who donates to the charity wholeheartedly for their support.”

To support the charity, go to www.theairambulanceservice.org.uk or call 0300 3045 999.