Historical Notes
• Launched St Andrews Day 1987
Objectives: Provide equipment to help prevent sudden death from heart attack and to organise training for members of the public in basic life support
• Granted Charitable status by Scottish Charities Office December 1987
• First training class February 1988
• Defibrillators installed in local ambulances March 1988
• First life saved May 1988
We are now affiliated to Heartstart UK, a national body sponsored by the British Heart Foundation
• Following the success of our scheme, Heartstart Scotland was launched nationally on October 1988.
• Defibrillators wouldn’t become standard in all UK ambulances until 1990 onwards
• A study published in the BMJ hails the National Heartstart scheme a success improving survival rates across Scotland saving 286 additional lives per year
• Defibs placed in community 2010 onwards
• Defib expansion beyond St Andrews to surrounding communities from 2013
• Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest, A strategy for Scotland, 2015 published by Scottish Government.
• 1st life saved with AED! -The defibrillator at Craigtoun Park was used on the morning of Saturday 26th May 2018
• June 2019 BHF launch The Circuit – a national database of public defibrillators available to ambulance services across the UK. This allows 999 call handlers to direct the public to the nearest AED. All our AEDs are registered.
• 2nd life saved with AED! The defibrillator at the East Sands was used on the morning of Tuesday 8th December 2020.
• Our organisation historically had two parts. The first, Operation Heart Start (OHS), is the main organising structure and looks after policy, fund raising and distribution of funds. The second was Heart Start St Andrews & East Neuk of Fife (HS) which was concerned purely with BLS (Basic Life Support) training. From 1st April 2021 the two parts were amalgamated under Operation Heart Start.
• 2019 - 2021 COVID Face to face training curtailed, but resources made available online and cPADS continue to be deployed. Where permitted during the COVID epidemic we have continued to provide guidance remotely and online whilst ensuring out network of cPADS remained available.
• March 2021 All of Scotland's Emergency Services are using what3words To quickly find people in need of help, it means that you can now give 999 a what3words address, wherever you are in Scotland
• Out of hospital cardiac arrest: strategy 2021 to 2026 published by Scottish Government.
• October 2022 SAS launches Scotland-wide use of life-saving app to alert those with CPR knowledge The GoodSAM app user will be sent an alert if there has been a 999 call to a cardiac arrest within 1000 metres.
Objectives: Provide equipment to help prevent sudden death from heart attack and to organise training for members of the public in basic life support
• Granted Charitable status by Scottish Charities Office December 1987
• First training class February 1988
• Defibrillators installed in local ambulances March 1988
• First life saved May 1988
We are now affiliated to Heartstart UK, a national body sponsored by the British Heart Foundation
• Following the success of our scheme, Heartstart Scotland was launched nationally on October 1988.
• Defibrillators wouldn’t become standard in all UK ambulances until 1990 onwards
• A study published in the BMJ hails the National Heartstart scheme a success improving survival rates across Scotland saving 286 additional lives per year
• Defibs placed in community 2010 onwards
• Defib expansion beyond St Andrews to surrounding communities from 2013
• Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest, A strategy for Scotland, 2015 published by Scottish Government.
• 1st life saved with AED! -The defibrillator at Craigtoun Park was used on the morning of Saturday 26th May 2018
• June 2019 BHF launch The Circuit – a national database of public defibrillators available to ambulance services across the UK. This allows 999 call handlers to direct the public to the nearest AED. All our AEDs are registered.
• 2nd life saved with AED! The defibrillator at the East Sands was used on the morning of Tuesday 8th December 2020.
• Our organisation historically had two parts. The first, Operation Heart Start (OHS), is the main organising structure and looks after policy, fund raising and distribution of funds. The second was Heart Start St Andrews & East Neuk of Fife (HS) which was concerned purely with BLS (Basic Life Support) training. From 1st April 2021 the two parts were amalgamated under Operation Heart Start.
• 2019 - 2021 COVID Face to face training curtailed, but resources made available online and cPADS continue to be deployed. Where permitted during the COVID epidemic we have continued to provide guidance remotely and online whilst ensuring out network of cPADS remained available.
• March 2021 All of Scotland's Emergency Services are using what3words To quickly find people in need of help, it means that you can now give 999 a what3words address, wherever you are in Scotland
• Out of hospital cardiac arrest: strategy 2021 to 2026 published by Scottish Government.
• October 2022 SAS launches Scotland-wide use of life-saving app to alert those with CPR knowledge The GoodSAM app user will be sent an alert if there has been a 999 call to a cardiac arrest within 1000 metres.
