We aspire to have the highest levels of governance in GoodSAM. All responders are checked and approved and their training is confirmed.
This has meant we can partner with some world leading Ambulance services, and we are very pleased to announce our partnership with the world’s biggest ambulance service, London’s Ambulance Service.
Community Life Saver Density across London
The GoodSAM system is now linked in with the computer aided dispa
tch mechanism. This means if someone dials 999 for a cardiac arrest from within the M25, not only will an ambulance be dispatched in the normal way, but the system will alert the three nearest off duty paramedics / responders.
The GoodSAM system is built such that individual organisations can administer their own responders, then with local agreements, the statutory ambulance service can harness these responders when there is a life critical emergency near them.
Chris Hartley-Sharpe London Ambulance explains the alerting system
You may have seen a brief article on BBC News London on 22nd October.
The full press release is below. Once again we’d like to thank our wonderful colleagues at LAS – we are throughly enjoying making this a reality with you!
Press Release:
22nd October 2015
GoodSAM Partners with London Ambulance Service to Save More Lives in London
GoodSAM, the app which uses GPS technology to alert trained first responders including off duty doctors, nurses and paramedics, to nearby medical emergencies, has partnered with London Ambulance Service on an exciting new project. This Good Samaritan life saving community of off-duty ambulance staff and people trained in life support, can now be automatically alerted directly from a 999 call via London Ambulance Services (LAS) Computer Aided Dispatch service.
The sooner quality Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is started, the better the chance of patient survival. If a defibrillator is readily available (the location of which is shown on the GoodSAM app), patients are six times as likely to survive.
Volunteer responders with basic life support skills who are affiliated or trained to an LAS Standard can register on the GoodSAM app selecting London Ambulance Service as the verifying organisation. Those who are not LAS trained or affiliated should select GoodSAM as the verifying organisation.
This system does not affect the normal ambulance response. When LAS receive a call that is likely to be a cardiac arrest, an ambulance is dispatched in the usual way. The system concurrently alerts the three nearest responders who have the app on their phone and who may be literally next door.
If the responder is available and has already been approved through the governance process administered by London Ambulance Service for its own staff and members of the public with basic life support skills trained to an LAS standard, they can accept the alert via the GoodSAM app and make their way to the location of the incident.
If the volunteer responder is not in a position to accept the alert, it can be declined and will get diverted through to the next nearest responder.
The responder will also be advised of the location of the nearest defibrillator. When a public access defibrillator is used in cardiac arrest, the overall survival rate to discharge is 58.6 per cent.
By ensuring a patient has a patent airway and quality CPR is in place in those few minutes, the patient is more likely to be successfully treated when the ambulance arrives.
Chris Hartley-Sharpe, Head of First Responders at London Ambulance Service said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with the GoodSAM team. It’s a well-established fact that the sooner effective CPR is started, the better the chance of survival for the patient. Getting a defibrillator to someone in cardiac arrest further increases their chance of survival.
“By working with GoodSAM, we have introduced an integrated and seamless approach that will enable our volunteer responders to be alerted via the GoodSAM app to a patient in cardiac arrest nearby.
“For example, if our control room receives a 999 call about someone in cardiac arrest on Bond Street, an alert would go to the nearest volunteer responder via the GoodSAM app.
“They could accept the alert and make their way to the patient. It is important to stress the responder is an additional resource to the emergency ambulance response, which is deployed as normal to a patient in cardiac arrest.
“While we are actively encouraging our own clinically trained staff and LAS accredited members of the public to sign up as volunteer responders, we are also working with other emergency services to help promote the GoodSAM app to their staff. They too would need to demonstrate that they had the skills required to be a volunteer responder.”
Dr Mark Wilson, GoodSAM’s Medical Director, said: “If a patient has a cardiac arrest or a traumatic head injury, it is the first few minutes after the incident that determine the outcome – life, death, or long-term brain injury.
“But in this time frame, we could never have enough ambulances to be on scene and able to provide treatment within two minutes. That is why we need to alert people with the right life support training skills.
“We are delighted that the London Ambulance Service has partnered with us and would urge other organisations and medically trained individuals around the world to continue to do so as well.”
The GoodSAM App also has a built in Defibrilocator function, app users can also easily identify public access defibrillators This has mapped over 13,000 defibrillators. With over 5000 first responders currently signed up as Good Samaritans across the UK the creators are also appealing to members of the public to become ‘alerters’ to trigger the alert if they come across a patient in need.
Both the GoodSam Alerter and Responder apps are available to download for Android and iOS from ITunes and GooglePlay.
–END—
PRESS ENQUIRIES
Siobhra Murphy
s.murphy@goodsamapp.org
NOTES TO EDITORS
How the GoodSAM App works
In a life threatening emergency anyone who has downloaded the GoodSAM Alerter app can simply open it and press ‘Call for Help’. The app identifies their geographical location and as soon as the call is confirmed as a medical emergency the app does two things simultaneously; dials 999 to request the emergency services and sends a group alert to the nearest GoodSAM Responders.
When a GoodSAM Responder receives an alert, using the app they can either accept the request for help or reject it if they are unavailable. If they reject the request or don’t respond within 20 seconds, the next nearest responder is alerted.
The person triggering the alert is advised that a group of responders has been alerted and notifies them when a GoodSAM Responder is on their way.
The app guides the GoodSAM Responder to the exact location of the alerter and identifies where the nearest defibrillator is located. A built in messaging service means the alerter and the responder can communicate on route if required.
Once on scene a GoodSAM responder can reassure the patient and begin performing basic first aid and life support as required before handing over the emergency services.
There is a firm governance process in place and all Good Samaritans are verified manually.
Defibrilocator
When someone goes into cardiac arrest, every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces their chances of survival by 10%*.
A defibrillator is a machine that delivers an electric shock to the heart when someone is having a cardiac arrest and there are a growing number of defibrillators available in public places for first aiders to use in an emergency.
The GoodSAM app can pinpoint the nearest defibrillator based on known information. Whether a GoodSAM Responder or Alerter, uses of the app can add to this register making it the most comprehensive and reliable source of defibrillator information.
GoodSAM users can do this by taking photos of any defibrillators they locate and upload them to the app, noting their type, condition and most importantly their accessibility.
*British Heart Foundation
ABOUT GOODSAM (WWW.GOODSAM.ORG)
GoodSAM 
Is there any information available about how to be trained or have current training recognised by the LAS? Or does this apply only to their community responder scheme?
Currently those who work with LAS (e.g. Paramedics, CFRs) and those trained by LAS (e.g. Mark’s and Spencer’s staff who are trained to use their defibs) can register with LAS verifying their certification. This is the group that LAS are currently activating.
Others (e.g. doctors, nurses, St John first aiders) can register with GoodSAM verifying their certification. The minimum standard for this group (in the UK) is First Aid at work level or that it is part of their job (e.g. for doctors). The alerting feature to this group is rolling out at present.