A young footballer has handed in a petition to Downing Street calling on the Government to scrap VAT from all defibrillator purchases after the device saved his life.
Jack Hurley was 19 years old and had no known heart issues when he collapsed on the football pitch in Husbands Bosworth, in Leicestershire, while playing a match in June last year.
Teammates acted quickly and used a nearby defibrillator to restart his heart before paramedics arrived – which Mr Hurley says saved his life because the next available defibrillator was 3 miles away.
“Had that defibrillator not been in the pavilion, I would not be here today”, Mr Hurley said.
Now aged 20, the North Kilworth FC player attended No 10 on Wednesday to hand in a letter signed by MPs and charities asking the Government to get VAT on defibrillators scrapped.
It was part of the Stop the Heart Restart Tax campaign which aims to make defibrillators more affordable and accessible all over the UK.
Speaking at Downing Street after handing in the petition alongside his father Colin, Mr Hurley said: “A defibrillator is not a luxury item – so why would you want VAT on something that you are not going to use unless you have to?
“It’s life-saving equipment.
“We argue that it’s like car insurance: you’re paying, hopefully not to use it, but in the event you do need to use it, it’s there.”
The petition was signed by 46 MPs, including the co-leader of the Green Party Adrian Ramsey and the health spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats Jess Brown-Fuller, as well as charities like the British Heart Foundation and the British Red Cross.
“Removing VAT means we can have a lot more defibrillators in our communities, in rural communities or in big cities – you realistically want them everywhere”, Mr Hurley said
“You don’t want to be more than three of five minutes away from a defibrillator.”
The survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK is 8% – but using a defibrillator can increase the survival rate to 70% if treatment is administered within minutes.
Mr Hurley said it was also important to encourage people not to fear using the emergency device.
“A lot of people see defibrillators as a scary piece of equipment, because they don’t see them frequently”, he said.
“But it’s very easy to use: it talks you through it, there are instructions and pictures on the pads as to where to place them.
“The worst thing you can do is stand there and watch.”
The Government already provides several VAT reliefs to help organisations buy defibrillators and other first aid equipment.
But David Stockdale, CEO of the British Healthcare Trades Association which supports Mr Hurley’s campaign, said these were insufficient in improving access to defibrillators – which can cost between £800 and £2,000 without VAT.
Mr Stockdale said: “With VAT relief, the charities that have a medical purpose or aim can indeed reclaim it back.
“But if you are somebody who is raising money to have a defibrillator in your local housing estate, they would have to pay – likewise for local charities or sports association.”
Mr Stockdale said the campaigners already got in touch with the Treasury, who in turn shared concerns that scrapping the VAT would wind up increasing the prices of defibrillators.
“We’ve got letters signed by our members in retail saying that it won’t happen”, Mr Stockdale said.
“The reality is, it will save the Treasury money because if you don’t use a defibrillator and then survive a cardiac arrest, the likelihood is you will have a longer stay in hospital, and a longer stay in ICU as well.
“The cost of recovery if you don’t use a defibrillator is much higher.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel