About us

Whilst attending medical emergencies, local Ambulance Community Responders are sometimes saddened by the lack of action being taken by bystanders or relatives - so a few volunteers have started up a Heartstart UK Scheme in Tadley and surrounding districts of Basingstoke, Newbury and Reading (the Tadley Triangle).   

Heartstart UK is an initiative, coordinated by the British Heart Foundation, to teach members of the public what to do during a life-threatening emergency; simple skills that save lives.

At this time our team of volunteers comprises Dr. Steve Colley (Scheme Director); a Finance Officer; five instructors and one assistant (all trainers are CRB cleared).  More volunteers are sought to bring our strength up eventually to six instructors and four assistants.

Why is Emergency Life Support (ELS) important?

Life-threatening emergencies are common.  On average between once and twice per day in the Tadley Triangle alone!

Coronary heart disease (CHD) in particular, is one of this country’s biggest killers.  Although the CHD rate is falling in the UK, it is still one of the highest in the world, accounting for more than 120,000 deaths per year. 

Every two minutes one person in the UK has a heart attack, and in 30% of cases the casualty dies before he or she reaches hospital, due to cardiac arrest. Other causes of cardiac arrest include electrocution and drug overdose.

Recovery from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is more likely if each link in what is known as the ‘chain of survival’ is strong.

The Chain of Survival

·         Early Access – to get professional help quickly

·         Early Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) – to buy time

·         Early Defibrillation – to restart the heart

·         Early Advanced Life Support – to stabilise the patient

Heartstart UK aims to strengthen the first two links in the chain of survival by providing courses in emergency life support (ELS) - the essential actions needed to maintain life in an emergency.

The course is free and lasts approximately two and a half hours for adult training sessions and three one-hour sessions for children.

The content of an ELS course includes how to call for help, how to recognise a heart attack, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), dealing with choking, dealing with serious bleeding and helping an unconscious casualty who may or may not be breathing.

Over 1.6 million people (September 2007) have received training in ELS through Heartstart UK and the number of schemes and schools offering ELS training continues to grow at a steady rate.

BHF Support

The BHF’s community resuscitation team support Heartstart UK schemes by advising on their set-up and operation and by offering an affiliation package that includes strict guidelines, insurance cover and start-up support grants 

However, not all equipment is supplied by the BHF and schemes are required to fund the ongoing cost of additional equipment, consumables and expenses from public donations.

Although there is no charge for the course we do make a request for an optional donation to help cover the cost of extra training materials, traveling expenses and consumables. 

Who will benefit from our training?

Our scheme covers the “Tadley Triangle”, i.e. Newbury, Reading, Basingstoke and Tadley Districts.

Courses are available free of charge to:

·         The general public

·         Schools

·         Local businesses

·         Local Clubs and Organisations

… And finally…

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to explain what our Heartstart UK scheme is all about.  We look forward to hearing from you soon.

 The Tadley Heartstart Team

Tel 07 773 678 198

hs.tadleytriangle@googlemail.com