 The next item of business today is a member's business debate on motion number 10898, in the name of Jackson Carlaw, on Neilston and Upplemore first responders reaching their 100th emergency call out. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put, and I would invite those members who wish to speak in the debate to please press the request to speak buttons now or as soon as possible. I now call on Jackson Carlaw to open the debate. Mr Carlaw, seven minutes or thereby please. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. It's a genuine pleasure to propose and speak to the motion table in my name this afternoon, and I'm delighted to be able to do so as the work to which it pays tribute is vital, the support of other organisations for that work has been generous, spontaneous and heartfelt and especially. The volunteers who have made all that has been achieved possible represent the very best of Scotland, and I know too that there will be members who will be equally familiar with community first responder groups in their own areas. Indeed, there are some 100 schemes operating across Scotland with some 1200 volunteer responders. For those who are not, let me explain that community first responders are asked to attend serious and life threatening emergencies such as breathing difficulties, chest pains, cardiac arrest or unconsciousness. It should be noted that they are not sent to road collisions or traumatic injuries or to anything out with their training. They are trained by the Scottish Ambulance Service in basic first aid and life saving skills so that they can deliver a speedy, reassuring response to patients while an ambulance is on the way, and they are deployed to appropriate calls by the Scottish Ambulance Service control centre. An emergency ambulance is always dispatched first, and the role of the responder is to support the patient while that ambulance is on its way, providing an important service that benefits the community and which, importantly, the community itself recognises and appreciates is of benefit. My motion is, I am afraid, already somewhat out of date. It recognises the 100th call of the Neilston and Upland, where responder group, as was the case when I first lodged it on September 1. However, by Tuesday this week, that figure had increased dramatically to 147 call-outs, and, Presiding Officer, perhaps with the assistance of any willing member suitably overcome with excitement by remarks during the next few minutes, we might even push it over the 150 mark during the course of this debate. That is all quite remarkable. However, the success of voluntary projects and initiatives is never guaranteed. It depends on leadership and the commitment and support of a great many people. In the case of Neilston and Upland, this leadership has been ably provided by Stuart Maclellan and Ross Nelson, both of whom are in Parliament today. I say again, as I had the pleasure earlier this year, of welcoming and thanking personally a more extended team from the group here at Holyrood. Stuart Maclellan gave the spark of life to this responder group in April last year when, like others across Scotland, he approached the Scottish Ambulance Service and the service then convened a meeting to test public interest and support to which initially 15 people turned up willing to participate. Stuart recruited constantly throughout the year and, by November, a team was being trained and then, in January, with the appropriate approval secured, the group went live. I have made mention of the support from others in the community, from a local hotel in Upland, which cheerfully allowed meetings to take place free of charge in its premises, to St John's Scotland, which has supported the project in a number of ways to which I will return, and also to Arnold Clarke, which has given such a boost to the responders with the donation of a vehicle at least. I am grateful to the managing director of Arnold Clarke, Eddie Hawthorne, for his support and engagement. Perhaps I might just add at this point and pay tribute to Sir Arnold Clarke himself. I am happy that this will then find its place in the official record of Parliament. I have known him for many years, and such as his reach and depth and length of service to the retail motor industry in Scotland and the UK over several generations, I can add that I know him as my father and my grandfather did before. He has built one of Scotland's most successful businesses and he has been content not to posture on the wider stage, but I know there will be many community groups all over Scotland who will be indebted to him for the generous support he has offered personally and for the assistance that has been offered by his organisation, a branch of which cannot now be far removed from any Scottish community. I might mention a moment to go also over the support of St John's Scotland. Less well known generally in Scotland than it deserves, St John's Scotland formed in 1947 and has as one of its main objects the encouragement and promotion of all work of humanity and charity for the relief of people in sickness, distress, suffering or danger. That is a perfect fit. What I have most enjoyed about their involvement is the enthusiasm that this project has generated among their members, an infectious enthusiasm that was achieved by Stuart McClellan and Ross Nelson on the now several visits that have been made to secure further funding, which has to date paid for a defibrillator, extensive training equipment and most recently for the refurbishment of the former police station in Nealston as a permanent base after the group grew out of the generous provision of space offered by the Nealston Development Trust, yet another successfully locally based project. I should note that this facility will be lost as a consequence of a change of ownership, but I'm in no doubt that St John's team will identify and then set about securing and equipping an alternative base. That is if the acquisition cost of £55,000 cannot yet be raised, but knowing that I'm not certainly going to rule that out. It's sometimes easy to talk in abstract terms about the mechanics of a voluntary group. What can sometimes get lost is the character and the dynamic and the public worth. When I've met up with the responders, as I have done now on several occasions, they've been full of buzz and fizz and enthusiasm, which is there for everyone to see. All the more so now, as from being a theoretical organisation being established, they are attending call-outs across the community and helping to save lives. And the response of the community itself as it begins to understand just what an advantage they have represented. This is not an initiative that in any way seeks to ameliorate ambulance arrival delays far from it. It's the recognition that for most people, basic life-saving skills are simply not understood or practised. The support of someone who can act immediately and ensure that the attendance of the Scottish ambulance service is all the more effective, efficient and successful is something that any of the individuals or families who have experienced it will not forget. Across Neilston and Uplemore, the appreciation of the public is palpable. Across Scotland, that will also be true. And hopefully yet elsewhere, communities will be fortunate enough to identify and enlist committed individuals and leadership and establish the first responder group with similar success. I'm actually sure that the Government and members of all parties will join me in congratulating this local first responder group, one of several in the west of Scotland regional constituency I represent, and of those groups that are represented and established elsewhere across Scotland. All equally deserving our congratulations and support, and I'm delighted to formally move the motion in my name. Many thanks, and I'll call on Joan McAlpine to be followed by Hugh Henry. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I would like to congratulate Jackson Carlaw on securing this very important debate on a very important subject. I had a look at the website of the Neilston and Uplemore first responders unit, and I was very impressed with the numbers involved, all the more so after hearing from Jackson Carlaw that the group has been in place for a really long time. It's relatively short period of time and has clearly achieved a great deal in that short period of time, as have the many hundreds of schemes across Scotland that have now been established, and as Jackson Carlaw says, involving 1,200 volunteers, which is extremely impressive. I understand that it was Dr Richard Cummings from Seattle in the USA who discovered in 1990 that if a series of interventions took place in a set sequence, a patient suffering from a heart attack stood a greater chance of survival, and these events are now known as the chain of survival, community first responders are an integral and valued link in the chain of survival in areas that experience an extended journey time, as they can provide essential simple treatments in those crucial first few moments. The sequence is this, one early recognition and call for help, two early CPR, three early defibrillation and four early advanced care. That might sound daunting but full training is given and all first responders will undergo IHCD, that's institute of healthcare and development training for first persons on the scene. This course has been devised in association with the Royal College of Surgeons but these volunteers must also pass exams and get through a very rigorous selection process as well as pass the PVG. First responders must also update their skills continually with monthly training and their advice to sign up for at least one call shift every week to ensure that the skills that they acquire are put to practical use and don't attrify. It's obvious that first responders require a great deal of commitment and the fact that their volunteers makes that all the more admirable. The work is part of a team that, as Jackson Carlaw says, they're not intended to replace ambulances or paramedics but they do by vital time. When a person has a sudden cardiac arrest, their heart's regular rhythm becomes chaotic or arrhythmic and every minute that the heart is not beating lowers the odds of survival by 7 to 10 per cent. After 10 minutes without defibrillation very few people survive. I'm very pleased to note that mortality due to heart attacks has declined significantly across the world since the 1970s and the OECD attribute that in part to the introduction of treatments aimed at rapidly restoring coronary blood flow and the point that processes of care such as those timely medical interventions play a big part in determining whether a person will live or die. Comparative figures show that countries with the highest heart attack survival rates include Denmark, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. It's no coincidence that most of those countries have highly organised and long-standing network of community first responders. I'm very pleased that Scotland is, for some time now, has been putting the experience of those other countries into effect with great success. First responders are on the front line of our community resilience plan that the Scottish Ambulance Service has put in place and covers the period 2011 to 2015. Even when you do achieve the best ambulance response times in the world, there are conditions, as I have said, such as cardiac arrest and acute hyperacute stroke, where every second counts. The Scottish Ambulance Service website lists the places where first responders are needed because clearly they need more volunteers. The lists are far too long for me to read out here, except to say that in my region of the south of Scotland there are 49 communities on the website requiring volunteer first responders. Those range from smaller places such as Newcastleton and Port William to relatively large rural population centres such as Peoples Moffitt and Dalbeaty. I know that Moffitt has a big group, which I believe has done 24-7 cover, which is quite something, but even that group is still looking for additional volunteers. It is clear that, while I represent a rural area, you can see the benefits for first responders everywhere. That is notable in the fact that both Glasgow Airport and Brayhead shopping centres are listed as looking for additional volunteers. Once again, I congratulate Jackson Carlaw on securing the debate and congratulating his group and indeed all groups of first responders working across Scotland. I want to thank Jackson Carlaw for giving the Scottish Parliament the opportunity to put on record our recognition and thanks of the work being done by the first responder scheme in Nilsson and Uplimer, which is in my constituency of Renfrewshire South. All too often across Scotland we can say that we know that the volunteers do tremendous work, but we do not sometimes take sufficient time to put that on record. What Ross Nelson and Stuart McClelland and the team of volunteers have done in Nilsson and Uplimer is something that is making a significant contribution to the lives of individuals in that community. I do not think that they or anyone else would want to suggest for one moment that this scheme is a substitute for an effective and efficient ambulance service, but it can complement the work that our excellent ambulance service does and it can make a difference in saving lives. I think that it is also, I might be putting this in the context of the communities of Nilsson and Uplimer. Two very distinct communities, but actually very closely linked to Nilsson, is the larger of those two communities. There is a long and proud community identification, community tradition and determination to work together for the benefit of all. Just last night I attended an event in Nilsson to celebrate the work of Pauline Gallacher in the Nilsson Development Trust and the fantastic contribution that she has made to the village of Nilsson. Not just through the development trust but also the extension to having the community wind farm, which is an example to communities right across Scotland. I know that there are many people who are working hard to have a war memorial established in Nilsson, John Maguire of Phoenix Honda, but also a classmate of mine, Jimmy Higgins, walked to France last year to raise money for that war memorial. We are talking about communities, two communities that are determined to do everything that they can to help each other. Jackson Carlaw has eloquently outlined the role that these organisations play increasingly across Scotland and Britain, but it is happening internationally. I know that we can actually point to success from those schemes. I talked to my two Labour councillors, who represent Nilsson, councillor Elaine Greene, whose daughter Jennifer is a volunteer with the first responder. They have told me the fantastic work that has been done and the very human response. My other councillor, Paul O'Kane, was telling me that, once Sunday at Masset, St Thomas's in Nilsson, an elderly parishioner had taken on well. It was really because of the rapid response from that team of volunteers that that person's condition was able to be stabilised in advance of the ambulance service arriving. We have a team of volunteers, a scheme that is making its mark on the local community. It has the support of the local community, the fact that you have got 30 or more people already prepared to give their time to something that they see of immediate benefit to themselves, their families, their neighbours and friends. Stuart and his team have had to work really hard to get the money, and Jackson Carlaw has indicated some of the support that they have had. They are now in temporary premises, hoping that they might just be able to get the finance to make that permanent. It would be a real shame if a small amount of money was to prevent that skill base that has been developed from continuing to make its contribution to Nilsson and Duplemore. I know from, as I said, from talking to local people that they already value the service. They know that it has made a difference and they can point to the individuals whose lives have been helped by those volunteers. I hope that, collectively, we are all able not just to offer our word and words of support but to identify ways in which we can help this fantastic service to continue. Once again, I thank Jackson Carlaw for enabling us to debate this, but I thank the team of terrific and tremendous volunteers that are putting their mark on Nilsson and Duplemore. I close the debate on behalf of the Government in seven minutes. Are there by ministers? I congratulate Jackson Carlaw on securing time for this debate and to offer my congratulations to the first responder team in Nilsson and Duplemore for the tremendous work that they have undertaken. Jackson Carlaw says that they have now significantly surpassed their 100th emergency call-out. They are now at 147, which is a remarkable amount of call-outs given that they have been operating in the area for a relatively short period of time since January of this year. I am sure that, as all members will recognise, there are a range of medical conditions where time is of the absolute essence and how we respond to that individual within our community in order to provide him with the best possible care that we can. Conditions such as cardiac arrest, as we have heard from Joan McAlpine, are conditions where every second counts. That is exactly why community first responders schemes are so important. I am sure that members will recognise that community first responders send out a very strong message about the level of community resilience within our own individual communities and their desire to do the right thing for their own community and its wellbeing. It is important that we work to support them in undertaking that type of work. There are presently 127 first responder schemes across the country with more than 1,000 volunteers involved in participating in the programme. I want to take this opportunity to say that there is always an opportunity to introduce more of the community first responder teams. I would like to encourage any community that is considering the possibility of participating in the programme to encourage them to do so in the same way in which the community, Nielsen and Uplamore have responded over the last year. If they are interested in doing so, the Scottish Ambulance Service will be more than happy to assist them in providing support necessary to set up the first responder scheme within their own local area. Members will recognise that the increasing number of community first responder programmes sits within a range of other work that we have undertaken in order to improve community resilience around meeting the healthcare needs of our local communities. For example, we have the community resuscitation development officers who recruit and train community members to provide care. We have the public access defibrillators in a range of locations, which is also supported by local training programmes and awareness raising programmes. We have the first aid awareness and training that we provide through schools and the community at large. The community first responder programme sits within the wider context of trying to make sure that we improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland. Members may have noticed last week that I announced that we would be taking forward a strategy next year that aims to cut the number of deaths from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, a point that Joan McAlpine may reference to in her contribution. We know that survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests depends on what is the chain of survival, which we need to make sure is as complete as possible in order to ensure that someone receives resuscitation and defibrillation when a cardiac arrest occurs. Our community first responder teams are an important part of that chain within our local communities so that we can continue to reduce the number of people who die as a result of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. That sits within the wider work that we have been doing around increasing the number of publicly available defibrillators. The Cabinet Secretary for Health, earlier this year, provided a further £100,000 to increase the number of publicly available defibrillators. In August of this year, I launched a new roll-out of defibrillators being provided to our independent dental practices across Scotland. Those defibrillators are a crucial piece of kit that quite literally saves lives. What they are now doing is mapping all of those on the Scottish Ambulance Service control system. That means that, if an emergency occurs near a dental practice area or one that is in a local shop or within a workplace or a supermarket, as increasingly is the case, it can be tasked in order to deploy that piece of kit. That involves some £600,000 worth of investment and we now have approximately 815 dental practices that have been signed up to the programme. That also sits alongside the work that we are doing with the British Heart Foundation's Heart Start programme within our schools. Almost 62 per cent of our secondary schools have now registered with the Heart Start programme. We have 150 teachers being trained as Heart Start instructors. The Heart Start programme, again, is about helping to build on that community resilience within our own individual communities. The community responder scheme is an important element to that. I do not underestimate the value of the community first responder scheme. As Hugh Henry rightly says, it is not a replacement for paramedics from our Ambulance Service, but it is an additional support in order to make sure that individuals who may require assistance and care can receive that as early as possible. As a Government, we intend to continue to build on that work in the coming years. I again wish to offer my sincere thanks and on-going support to those within the community first responder scheme in Nielsen and Atlaw more.