PRESS RELEASE
THE JOE HUMPHRIES MEMORIAL TRUST
Date: Monday 3 July 2017
Local charity helps put cardiac health on national sportsagenda
A LOCAL heart charity has helped to put cardiac safety on the national sports agenda.
Theindependent Duty of Care in Sport review, which was led by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, advocates more training and better awareness of cardiac health to help protect people – especially young people – who play sport.
The recommendations set out in the report, which was commissioned by the Government, cover areas including safeguarding, mental welfare and equality, diversity and inclusion.
A section on safety, injury and medical issues has been particularly welcomed by local heart charity the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust (JHMT), which has been lobbying for better understanding of conditions like sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS).
It highlights the need for a greater all-round knowledge about heart conditions and symptoms that could lead to sudden cardiac arrest in sport.
The report also calls for more information and awareness about cardiac screening and for more club members to have basic hands-on CPR training and access to a defibrillator.
To help accelerate these heart safe standards in sport, the report says all new sports facilities funded by Government grants should include a defibrillator when they are built. It should be available to the construction crew, before being passed on to be used on-site as a publicly accessible defibrillator.
Chair of the JHMT, Steve Humphries, said:“We were delighted to have an input into this report about the importance of cardiac safety for all young people who play sport – from elite athletes to first-time participants, whether on or off the field. Spectators, too, deserve the same level of cardiac safety.
“This report seeks to embed the provision of defibrillators in new sports facilities and recognises that all those responsible for the health and welfare of young people participating in sport need to be better informed about specific symptoms that can lead to cardiac arrest.
“This is long overdue. Joe’s Trust has demonstrated over some considerable time that education, awareness, CPR skills and quick access to a defibrillator are key to increasing the chances of survival in the event of a cardiac emergency.”
The JHMT offers free training in CPR and how to operate a defibrillator for sports clubs. It also helps to provide funding for defibrillators to be fitted in places where they can be accessed by the public at all times.
Dr Ffion Davies, medical lead for the Trust and a consultant in A&E at Leicester’s hospitals, said: “It is very encouraging that the Government has published guidance about sports safety, and the importance of preventing deaths from SADS conditions. It is good to see mention of CPR training and the availability of defibrillator machines for public use.”
Mike Ferguson, consultant at UHL and Trustee of JHMT, said: “JHMT has always supported the concept of increased awareness of possible cardiac death, how to deal with such an emergency and the need for targeted screening. We will continue to teach CPR and defibrillator familiarity within sport and increase the number of sports facilities and clubs that have access to defibrillators 24/7."
Baroness Tanni-Grey Thomson is one of the UK’s most successful athletes. She competed at five Paralympic Games, winning 16 medals, held over 30 world records and won the London Marathon six times between 1992 and 2002. She became a life peer in the House of Lords in 2010.
She said: “'I would like to thank the Trust for the information that they submitted to the review. Sport is a wonderful thing to be involved in, but it’s important to ensure all people play in the safest possible environment.There is still much to do in terms of raising awareness and standards for a wide variety of issues around duty of care in sport.”
To read the full report, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/duty-of-care-in-sport-review
Joe Humphries died from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome aged just 14 in October 2012, whilst out running near his family home in Rothley, Leicestershire. Since then, his family and friends have worked tirelessly to campaign for a better understanding of sudden, unexpected cardiac death in young people, and have campaigned for compulsory CPR training in schools and defibrillators in schools, community venues and sports clubs.
To find out more about the work of the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust, visit
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Notes to editors:
The Joe Humphries Memorial Trust:
Joe Humphries died from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome aged just 14 in October 2012, whilst out running near his family home in Rothley, Leicestershire. Since then, his family and friends have worked tirelessly to campaign for a better understanding of sudden, unexpected death in young people, and have campaigned for compulsory CPR training in schools and defibrillators in schools, community venues and sports clubs.
SADS Facts of Life:
- 12 young people aged 12-35 in Britain die each week from SADS - undiagnosed heart problems.
- If CPR is started immediately, done effectively (by a trained person with the victim lying flat) and a defibrillator can be got to the victim within eight minutes, the majority of people could be saved, without brain damage.
- The majority of deaths related to the condition are the result of undiagnosed irregularities or abnormalities of the heartbeat, which are known as arrhythmias.
- The unstable rhythm – the arrhythmia – develops a rhythm called ventricular fibrillation, in which the ventricles, which are the main pumping chambers of the heart, start beating at rates in excess of 250 beats per minute. Ventricular fibrillation causes sudden collapse, seizure-like activity and cardiac arrest, resulting in the total loss of heart function – but if diagnosed quickly, and if a shock from a defibrillator is applied, normal heart rhythm and signs of life can be restored.
- Most SADS cases have a genetic origin, with cases tending to come to light in teenage years and the early 20s.
- SADS can also occur for the first time in a family.
- Screening is available – if a problem is detected it can be monitored and treated.
- Every minute lost without CPR reduces the survival rate by 10%.
- Only 7% of UK people have first aid skills, compared with 80% of people in Scandinavian countries.
- There are 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year and 27,000 do not survive the event (10% survival).
- To find out more about SADS and the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust, please visit