West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) has secured a £141,970 grant from NHS Charities Together (in partnership with Omaze) aimed at enhancing survival rates for life-threatening emergencies such as out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. WMAS is one of just ten NHS ambulance charities nationwide to receive funding from the £1.85 million Community Resilience Grants Fund.
The two-year initiative will deliver basic life support and automated external defibrillator (AED) training to public members in areas across the West Midlands where survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests remain low—an important intervention, given that currently fewer than one in ten patients survive such incidents, though early CPR and defibrillation can raise that to more than half.
Cliff Medlicott, Regional Community Response Manager at WMAS, said:
“We are incredibly grateful to NHS Charities Together for their support and funding. Their support is helping us bring vital training to communities that need it the most. In the first phase of this project, we will work closely with places of worship in areas where access to health and welfare services is limited, ensuring local people have the skills and confidence to respond in times of need which ultimately will help to save lives.”
Jon Goodwin, Head of Grants at NHS Charities Together, added:
“We are delighted to award this grant to West Midlands Ambulance Service as part of our Community Resilience Grants Fund. The project has the potential to make a huge difference to people living in the West Midlands by helping them recognise the early signs of a life-threatening emergency and how to respond. In addition to helping improve chances of survival, by educating people to know how to respond in a health emergency – or even prevent it from happening in the first place – we can help reduce pressure on the NHS, which has never been more important.”