In February, Patrick and his wife Monica were in Liverpool One shopping centre when he suffered a cardiac arrest. Paramedic Dave Percival and Student Paramedic Vicky Herron based at Toxteth ambulance station were just leaving the Royal and responded to the call but had to leave their ambulance some distance away as there were no stewards available to lower the bollards into the venue. Thankfully, Richard Kettle, an off duty police officer from Bolton who was on his way to meet friends saw the increasing public crowd around Patrick and stopped to help.

Once the patient had received three shocks from the defibrillator (a machine that can gives an electric shock through the chest wall to restart the heart), he needed to get to hospital. The Police Officer assisted Dave at the scene so Vicky could move the ambulance to a closer location.

Dave said: “As we were the only crew on scene, the Police Officer was a great assistance to us and we really appreciated his help, giving up his time and energy with good CPR, freeing us up to administer drugs and help the patient. He was under no obligation to stop and offer help and we were really thankful for his assistance.”

In a twist to the story, Dave transferred Mr. Toosey between hospitals weeks later only to discover he had suffered another cardiac arrest, this time on the platform in Lime Street Train Station. Another Toxteth crew, Brian Meadows and Peter Blaylock attended and saved Patrick’s life again! He has since had an internal defibrillator fitted which should last for seven years and is recovering well.

Patrick and his wife met up with the ambulance crew and police officer who saved his life and thanked them personally. He said: “Although I’ve never done any form of first-aid training myself, I am ever so grateful to those who have. Thank you so much. I am so grateful that you saved my life.”

Patrick’s wife Monica is keen to sign up for life-support training in the near future.

Ends

Picture: Paramedic Dave Percival, PC Richard Kettle, Patrick Toosey and Student Paramedic Vicky Herron reunited at an ambulance station.

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For more information contact the Press Office on 0161 279 4800

or email: Fiona.Bateson@nwas.nhs.uk

Notes to Editors:

§ North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust was established on 1 July 2006 with the merger of the Cumbria, Lancashire, Mersey Regional and Greater Manchester Ambulance Services, the aim being to provide the best possible ambulance and pre-hospital care service to the people of North West England.

§ The Trust works with other partners to develop new ways of delivering emergency and urgent healthcare to the patient.

§ The Trust will seek to minimise unnecessary emergency hospital admissions through the provision of suitable alternative pathways of patient care and by working with our NHS partners.

§ We will strive for patients to receive appropriate care and experience from consistently getting the right response, first time, in time and in the right place.

§ The service covers an area of over 5,400 square miles with a population of over seven million people.

§ The Trust employs around 6,000 staff.

§ Almost 1,000 emergency and non-emergency vehicles operate in the region.

§ Over one million emergency calls are received each year.