SOUTH Central Ambulance Service has been awarded a prestigious accolade for its campaign to improve defibrillator access.
The SCAS was given the Best Healthcare Campaign award by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations at the CIPR Pride Awards 2023.
It was given at the awards event in Cambridge last week, which recognises outstanding examples of public relations campaigning.
It is the second year running SCAS has received a CIPR PRide Award for its work to raise awareness of CPR and defibrillators and improve engagement with the public.
The award was given on the strength of South Central Ambulance Service’s campaign which followed the launch of new international guidelines regarding defibrillators.
Guidelines focused on the ease of finding an automated external defibrillator (AED) through signage, and were updated as a result of research and recommendations by Professor Charles Deakin, divisional medical director and resuscitation lead at SCAS.
Professor Deakin warned that the public was left playing “a deadly game of hide and seek” when locating AEDs.
His recommendations included making sure signs for defibrillators were illuminated at night, identifiable from a distance, and visible at all times.
He also recommended that the direction and distance of the defibrillators were indicated, and that both AEDs and signposts underwent annual, routine checks.
The communication team at SCAS developed templates and a guidance pack for download on the new international signage guidelines and selected a school – Stowe School in Buckinghamshire – to be the first in the world to implement the new AED signage.
It followed SCAS’s launch of the first defibrillator finder app, Save A Life, and campaigns tied in with the annual World Restart a Heart Day on October 16.
Prof Deakin, a professor of resuscitation and pre-hospital emergency medicine, said: “While publicly available AEDs have saved countless lives they remain underused, so many individuals who may potentially survive die because a defibrillator is not available to them.
“Therefore, we must continue to break down the barriers to AED use while simultaneously continuing to raise awareness of the importance of CPR and both the guidelines and work such as this wide-ranging campaign is vital to making change.”
Gillian Hodgetts, director of communications, marketing and engagement at SCAS, said: “We are delighted this work has been recognised for its impact and success with such a distinguished industry award.
“It is a great reflection of the dedication and desire right across SCAS to keep pushing forward with CPR and defibrillator awareness to help save more lives.”
