Group 2: Life-saving Skills and First Aid (Amendments 1, 3)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:04 pm on 2 March 2021.

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Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 5:04, 2 March 2021

Many Members will appreciate that I've found the consideration of these amendments exceptionally difficult. I was lucky enough to learn many of these skills as a teenager in St John's Ambulance in Tredegar, and, of course, it was these skills that saved my life less than a year ago. I'm absolutely clear in my mind that the national health service, for all the different things it can do, it cannot and will not and never will be able to save a life in the way that we saw last week in the centre of Cardiff. My own cardiologist and other, I think, specialists in the field are absolutely clear that it is the passer-by who sees somebody having a cardiac arrest that will save that person's life and enable, then, the paramedics and the whole range of services from the national health service to step in to ensure the recovery and the treatment that person will need to live again.