Hampshire’s ambulance service is the first in the UK to use “a robotic third crew member” which can carry out CPR automatically.

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) has rolled out a new device called LUCAS 3, which provides consistent chest compressions to patients while in an ambulance so that medics can perform other life-saving tasks. It is an upgraded model of LUCAS 2, which was evaluated by SCAS in 2014.

Dr John Black, Medical Director at SCAS said: “These devices don’t fatigue or change the delivery in any way, meaning high quality CPR can be delivered for as long as is required while freeing up the paramedic, keeping them seated and belted and able to focus on other critical aspects of patient care on a journey.

“It ultimately acts as a robotic third crew member for our teams.”

Emergency services attempt resuscitation in around 30,000 cardiac arrests – when the heart stops pumping blood around the body and to the brain – outside of hospital in the UK every year. Cardiac arrests are separate to heart attacks, which are caused by blockages of the blood vessels.

CPR is essential to maintaining blood and oxygen flow around the body while a person is unconscious and not breathing, by stimulating the heart to return to its regular beat.

However, it is a high energy activity, with multiple individuals often taking part in CPR on one victim due to the intensity of the resuscitation. LUCAS 3 is designed to reduce this by carrying out consistent compressions, which can be started within seven seconds of taking over from a human.

The system comes complete with wireless Bluetooth connectivity which makes it possible to configure compression rate, depth and alerts specific to an organisation’s resuscitation guidelines. It also means it can collect data which can be reviewed post-event and shared with other clinicians.

Dr Black said: “We know that delivering high quality and uninterrupted chest compressions in cardiac arrest is one of the major determinants of survival to hospital discharge but it can be very challenging for a number of reasons.”

“People can become fatigued when performing CPR manually which then affects the rate and quality of compressions and patients may need to be moved from difficult locations, such as down a narrow flight of stairs, or remote places which impedes the process.

“There are also significant safety risks to ambulance personnel being unrestrained and performing CPR in the back of vehicles travelling at high speed.

28 LUCAS 3 devices will be rolled out across SCAS’ ambulances following the announcement, with the medical director saying they were “invaluable”.

Professor Charles Deakin, said: “The LUCAS device transforms the management at a cardiac arrest and allows paramedics to focus on the key aspects of clinical care.

“It will be an invaluable part of the team and contribute to the already outstanding results that SCAS has achieved in saving lives of these patients.”