Healthcare workers asked to help save lives of patients in cardiac arrest in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire

GoodSAM is a community of registered responders willing to assist during a cardiac arrest until ambulance crews arrive.

Many are off-duty doctors, nurses, paramedics and other members of the emergency services.

Others are members of the public trained in basic first aid and qualified to perform lifesaving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The app uses GPS technology to alert trained first responders to nearby life-threatening emergencies.

When an emergency call is directed to one of the GoodSAM emergency operations centres, the app automatically notifies nearby responders.

If the responder is available, they can accept the alert via the GoodSAM app and make their way to the patient in need. If the volunteer responder is unable to accept the alert, it will get diverted to the next nearest responder. The responder is also advised of the location of the nearest defibrillator.

The England of England Ambulance Service started using the app in June 2019 to alert nearby responders during those vital minutes while ambulance crews are on their way.

More than 1,200 responders have signed up to respond for the service, with six successful survival-to-discharge outcomes for patients where a GoodSAM responder has attended.

The GoodSAM app in now entering its next phase and nationally governed healthworkers (such as GPs and paramedics) can be part of responder community deployed by the ambulance service’s emergency operations teams.

Any healthcare workers interested in becoming a GoodSAM responder should go to www.goodsamapp.org and sign up.