The Oliver King E-Petition exceeds 100,000 signatures

Tuesday, 29 January 2013 17:44

Oliver King was a 12- year- old boy from Liverpool who suffered a cardiac arrest at school and died in 2011. Sudden Cardiac Arrest kills 12 young people every week in the UK. Following his death, Oliver’s parents set up The Oliver King Foundation to petition to get defibrillators into all public places.

There is only one definitive treatment for cardiac arrest and that is the use of a defibrillator. Had a defibrillator been available when Oliver King collapsed he could well be alive today. With successful CPR and defibrillation delivered within 3 minutes of a collapse the chance of resuscitation increases from 6% to 74%.

The Oliver King Foundation, backed by Cllr Jake Morrison, has worked tirelessly over the last year to secure 100,000 signatures to have a parliamentary debate about the availability of defibrillators in all public places in the UK. It is vital the Government consider the campaigns goals to make the UK a heartsafe environment, to ensure so many needless deaths are no longer occurring.

Foundation patron Cllr Jake Morrison said: “We have done it. It has been a long and really busy 12 months, but we have the support of the British public. Our job is now to take this back to the Government and work towards legislation which will save lives. We have been dismissed by the Government on a number of occasions in the past. We want to put that behind us and now work with health ministers to save the lives of young and old people right across the country.”

With the 100,000 signatures secured The Oliver King Foundation are now encouraging people to contact their MPs to become a ‘sponsoring MP’ to request the e-petitions call for defibrillators in all public places. The Foundation is in talks with MPs willing to make this move on their behalf.