Hansard

I thank members who have remained behind to participate in the debate. I also thank those who signed my motion in order to make the debate possible. Among them are health spokespeople from the three main Opposition parties, which I found particularly pleasing.

Sudden arrhythmia death syndrome is not easy to say, but it can also be called sudden death syndrome or sudden cardiac death. Those are all umbrella terms pertaining to a number of conditions that lead to the sudden deaths of young people every day. However, despite those daily tragedies, many people are still relatively unaware of the terms.

Leading charities, such as Cardiac Risk in the Young, estimate that at least 200,000 people under the age of 35 in the United Kingdom have a cardiac condition that is capable of causing sudden cardiac death, which could mean that as many as 16,500 people are in that situation in Scotland alone. Although many of those people will live normal lives, never knowing that they are at risk, it is important to note that they will still be genetic carriers of an abnormality that could, with more serious consequences, be passed on to their children.

Unfortunately, the Gunn family in Selkirk is all too well aware of the dangers of one heart condition that can be responsible for sudden cardiac deaths. Wilma Gunn decided to dedicate her life to raising awareness of sudden cardiac deaths following the death of her son Cameron. She established Scottish Heart at Risk Testing 14 years ago and has a record of achievements of which she should be proud. Money raised by Scottish HART has gone towards supplying a number of defibrillators to schools, fitness centres and swimming pools across Scotland, and they have already saved lives. In her attempts to raise awareness, Wilma has met Government ministers and presented evidence to parliamentary committees. Thanks to Scottish HART, an important annual sporting fixture in the Borders is the Cameron Gunn memorial soccer sevens tournament. The event has grown so large that it is now run in conjunction with Scottish Borders Council and the Scottish Football Association. It involves more than 1,000 youths every year and it is an important means of fundraising for the charity.

Cardiac Risk in the Young, or CRY as it is sometimes called, deserves enormous credit for the work that it has done in the past 15 years. During that time, it has been at the forefront of campaigns to raise awareness of sudden cardiac deaths in young people. Its activities include supporting bereaved families throughout the United Kingdom, conducting heart screenings, research, and lobbying politicians and the medical profession to raise awareness of SADS issues. CRY should be commended particularly for offering significant grants to trained cardiologists who will continue to work in the national health service as experts in SADS-related conditions.

Before this evening’s debate, I made inquiries of the University of Edinburgh regarding the structure and content of its physical education teacher training programme. With some of the conditions there are warning signs, and if they are detected early enough, that can lead to a diagnosis and the ability to effect life-saving lifestyle changes. PE teachers are ideally situated to spot the warning signs, so I was intrigued to learn whether they have the necessary skills to do so. I understand that, following the introduction of curriculum for excellence, there is now a focus on the wellbeing of pupils, and that this year’s intake of PE teaching students at Edinburgh will be the first to leave university equipped with such skills when they graduate in 2014. I certainly welcome those amendments to the course structure.

However, before this year, only students who undertook more scientific modules would have gained the necessary knowledge, and those modules were not compulsory. I wonder whether the minister will be willing to look into that and investigate the possibility of giving existing PE teachers some retrospective training in the symptoms of heart conditions. I imagine that most 13 or 14-year olds would not readily associate dizziness or shortness of breath from exertion with a heart condition, but if their teacher did so, it could make all the difference. I am not suggesting a full course for PE teachers; perhaps a brief lecture from a physician or some educational literature would suffice.

Although that approach would be helpful, we must be mindful that the first time many people who fall victim to sudden cardiac death become symptomatic is when they die. The only way to combat that is to screen young people for heart conditions. That is why the Government deserves credit for supporting Professor Stewart Hillis’s cardiac assessment of young athletes programme, or CAYA. In the answer to a parliamentary question last month, I learned that 176 of the 885 individuals who had been screened up to that point had been referred for further treatment. Many of those cases involved elevated blood pressure. My concern is that the commendable CAYA programme is largely geared towards those who compete in organised amateur sport. Those sporting individuals who keep active, but do so outside organised competition, are in danger of slipping through the net. For every weekend amateur footballer or cricketer, there are many people who jog or cycle after work or play five-a-side football with colleagues, as Cameron Gunn was doing when he passed away.

I am fully aware that blanket screening is not feasible because of budgetary constraints and the lack of medical professionals in the NHS who have experience of electrocardiogram and echocardiogram manifestations. I understand that most of the CAYA programme’s subjects thus far have been male and involved in team sports, but that there is a capability to offer satellite clinics. I would be interested to know whether the additional funding that was announced in October will allow the CAYA programme to move into leisure centres and gyms to screen those who would otherwise miss out on the opportunity.

SADS is a phenomenon that strikes without discrimination. It is thanks only to the actions of charities such as Cardiac Risk in the Young and Scottish HART that we are beginning to understand that previously unexplained deaths were, in fact, the result of heart conditions.

The CAYA programme is a good start, but it would be desirable to have many more of our country’s young people screened for heart defects. It costs the NHS just £38 to operate an electrocardiogram machine on a patient, which has the potential to save a person’s life.

Perhaps in the future we will have a programme to rival that in Italy, which has virtually eradicated sudden cardiac deaths in sport and has led to a greater recognition of such deaths in that country.

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