Grieving mum's campaign for better ambulance and hospital provision in Rugby gains ministerial support

A grieving mum's campaign for better ambulance and hospital provision in Rugby has gained ministerial support.

MP Will Quince, Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care, met with campaigner Naomi Issitt to discuss urgent care in Rugby and the importance of publicly accessible defibrillators.

The meeting with Naomi, Chair of the OurJay Foundation, was instigated by Rugby MP Mark Pawsey, and followed a visit to Rugby’s Hospital of St Cross where the minister met with staff and spoke about the opportunities to improve the urgent and emergency care provision in the town.

One of the improvements being considered for urgent care in Rugby is the restoration of doctor-led urgent care at St Cross, which would enable more people to be treated locally.

Naomi’s tireless work has seen 60 defibrillators being installed around Rugby in memory of her son, who died from cardiac arrest last year.

Naomi said: “OurJays team were grateful that Will Quince MP visited Rugby and met with us to discuss the concerns over emergency healthcare in our town and the catastrophic situation Jamie and his friends had been through.

"We felt that we were listened to, and we hope that some positive changes are now more likely in the future. We still hope that funding towards defibrillators across the UK can be looked into further, to enable 24/7 public accessible defibrillators, particularly in towns where emergency healthcare provisions are being removed, like the ambulances and A&E departments have been in Rugby.”

The minister was also shown one of the OurJay defibrillators which has been installed at Mark’s constituency office in the town centre.

Five lives have already been saved by providing 24/7 accessible defibrillators across the area, helping to make Rugby one of the most ‘heart safe’ towns in the world.

Naomi added: “We thank Cllr Yousef Dahmash and Mark Pawsey MP for their continued support for OurJay and we are grateful that they persisted in achieving this visit by the Minister for Health and Secondary Care.”

Speaking after the visit, Mark said: “The work that Naomi and her family have done following their tragic loss is nothing short of inspirational."