[mkcol74]

20mins for London Amb Service isn’t too shabby

[MrMichael]

I don’t think CharlesP is being harsh at all. As he states BA is a commercial operation in the airline business, not the medical business. As with any expense a cost/ benefit analysis approach has to be taken. So if it is 5k for a defibrillator, add on staff training on the thing along with refresher training and your probably talking 15k. Then you have the big expense, what extra will the insurance cost you with the risk that your staff might actually kill someone with it by mistake.

Let’s say you have now spent 25k, will you get bottom line 25k more business for having bought it?

Likely not, don’t buy it…..no business requirement, no increase in revenue, lots of risk in having the thing.

[coudntthinkofaname]

@ MrMichael and Charles-P

I agree that companies shouldn’t have to bear unnecessary expenditure to satisfy whims, bit am just surprised (like others on this thread) that the outcome of BAs risk assessment in assuring the safety of its premises was so different to that of McDonalds.

Anyway, just spotted the article below from August 2013 which would indicate that standards at Heathrow are slipping (or worse still that the AED has been enhanced away by BA!)

http://www.aed.com/blog/heathrow-airport-boasts-74-cardiac-arrest-survival-rate/

[SimonS1]

@DNAdams – the relevance of Africa and India is that this is a business travel forum, many of us travel to places which have limited healthcare and/or demand to see your credit card before lifting a finger. It puts the treatment we often receive here in context.

As for the timing before we all rush to judgement, did the OP have a stopwatch running or are we talking estimates here? Often in times of urgency a few mins seem like a lifetime.

Got to say I agree with Charles on this one. I don’t think in an airline lounge you can cover every eventuality. Where do you draw the line – a defibrilator in the check in area? In security? At the gate area? On the Heathrow Express? Injections for nut allergies?

[cityprofessional]

I don’t think BA needs defibrillators in the lounge, but I would expect there to be a designated first aider on duty somewhere in the lounge complex at all times, who at least knew where the nearest defibrillator was (2 minutes away, according to that article…), and how to raise the alarm with on-airport paramedics…

[greyhawkgeoff]

Here in the US defibrillators are widely found in public areas of airport buildings, car hire garages etc. – whether anyone can use them correctly is of course another matter. And in a litigious society whether one should try is yet another complication.

[Bullfrog]

@greyhawkgeoff

Defibrillators are indeed widely available in the US in public areas, restaurants, airport and shopping malls. Good on the US.

Sadly the UK has a ‘health & safety’, commonly referred to ‘H & F S’ which does not know it’s top from it’s bottom. Time for those accountable in the UK to wake up & do a proper job.

[LuganoPirate]

So where is the best place to have a heart attack? I think we should be told!

[Tim2soza]

Heart attacks come as a surprise to those who don’t get a medical screening. While screening will not predict every cardiac event, it will let you know where you are on the risk scale.

I have been tested, and while my risk is lowish, it could be lower, and my diet has altered as a result. You are what you eat.

(Declaration of interest – I serve on the Board of a Health screening company.)

[Tom Otley]

A friend of mine had his heart attack in hospital. He recommended it as the least bad option. (He survived, and is better than ever now).

Another friend had it in the gym. He said that wasn’t good, because everyone thinks you are just unfit and making a fuss.

[mkcol74]

@LP I’d always recommend having a heart attack in a hospital with an A&E facility too.

[cityprofessional]

@SiteAdmin The one theoretical advantage of having a heart attack in the gym is that several (if not all) staff will have had first aid training, and almost all gyms in the UK have defibrillators (whether or not someone knows how to use them). This seems to be two major advantages over the BA lounge

[LuganoPirate]

Luckily I live in two places that have the best heart facilities in their respective countries. In Lugano we live just a (fast) one minute drive from a renowned cardio centre and often see and hear the helicopters bringing HA victims in.

But as Tim says, get screened regularly. I have a full annual check in Lugano every year including heart, liver and kidney functions. Prostate checks are also vital and is now done with a small blood sample so not as unpleasant as it used to be. In belts and braces style I then have another one done in south Africa in case they missed something in the first one!

[Charles-P]

‘LuganoPirate’ – Your ‘belt and braces’ approach certainly pays dividends. My wife has paid for breast cancer screening for herself and our daughters for the past five years because in Belgium they do not start to screen until the woman is 50 and then only do it once every two years. This is simply not good enough if there is a history of the problem in the family.

[StephenLondon]

A family friend was having a stress test at the American Hospital in Paris, had a heart attack in front of five doctors and they were unable to save him, even with all the equipment at their fingertips. Whether a defribrillator is nearby or not, it all depends on the person suffering the heart attack.

As for the Ambulance at LHR, I somehow have the impression that there is not a permanent ambulance presence airside at LHR. It all comes from Hillingdon Hospital, as I understand it, so a 20-min attendance is par for the course bordering on pretty good!

Should BA pay for debrillators? No more so than Malaysia, or Virgin, or KLM should. They are all tenants in a building rented from Heathrow Airport Ltd. I’d hold LHR accountable for ensuring they are present if the call was high enough to warrant them.

[Author]

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