Leisure centre refuses to let teacher use defibrillator on dying colleague

Health and Safety gone mad when leisure centre refuses to let teacher use defibrillator on dying colleague

A member of staff working at a leisure centre refuses to let teacher use defibrillator on dying colleague and blames it on ‘health and safety’.

A leisure centre has been blasted for refusing to let school staff use its defibrillator to restart a dying teacher’s heart – because it breached their health and safety policy.

Teacher Georgina Eade, aged 37, collapsed whilst teaching her year one class at St Andrew’s Primary School in Halstead. Knowing there was a defibrillator nearby, one of her colleagues rushed to nearby Halstead Leisure Centre to ask if she could borrow its defibrillator.

But despite the life threatening emergency the leisure centre bosses said she could not take it for health and safety reasons.

Thankfully, teachers performed CPR on Georgina until paramedics arrived and managed to restart her heart with their own defibrillator.

She was flown to hospital by air ambulance in what was described as a serious condition. However, she is now recovering well.

Georgina’s father, John Eade, has criticised the centre for its response saying; “I cannot believe that the leisure centre would not give them the defibrillator. I find it appalling. I don’t know if you have to be on the leisure centre’s premises before they will let you use it but there was obviously someone who needed it, just across the fields.

It was thanks to her quick thinking and well trained colleagues who performed CPR on her until the ambulance arrived that Georgina is here today. Bridgette Gouch, the headteacher, praised his staff for their heroic actions that saved their colleagues life.

The school is now planning to buy its own defibrillator after the recent events.

If you would like to learn first aid or how to use a defibrillator then get booked onto one of our public courses today.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/leisure-centre-blames-health-safety-7582962