LIFE saving machines have been installed in four rural villages after a “groundbreaking” scheme to help heart attack victims.

Four portable defibrillators (AEDs) – devices which can be used by untrained volunteers to re-start the heart – have been placed at Frieth, Hambleden, Fingest and Skirmett.

Hambleden Parish Council began a campaign to get the AEDs after an elderly villager from Skirmett died from a heart attack.

Cllr Susan Walker said an Ambulance arrived too late to resuscitate Mary Poulter and believes an AED may have prevented her death.

The machines administer a shock to restore the heart's rhythm and together with CPR, are the only way to re-establish the heartbeat of a patient in cardiac arrest.

For every minute defibrillation is delayed, the patients chance of survival decreases by ten per cent.

Cllr Walker said: “It's very difficult for the emergency services to get here quickly and the patients only have between eight and ten minutes.

“We literally could have grabbed the AED and tried everything possible while waiting for the ambulance.”

"It's a groundbreaking scheme and will help save lives."

Now if someone has a heart attack then villagers can phone 999 and get the code to open a green box containing the AED.

The operator will stay on the phone and give instructions on how to use the machine and administer CPR on the patient.

Hambleden Parish Council bought the AEDs as part of a national campaign run by Charity Arrhythmia Alliance to place them in every community.

It is the First parish in the South Central Ambulance area to have the machines, which are at The Sports and Social Club in Hambleden, the Chequers pub in Fingest and the village halls in Skirmett and Frieth.

Chairman of Buckinghamshire NHS PCT Stewart George said: “I congratulated Hambleden Parish Council and South Central Ambulance on the initiative, which the PCT will be watching with interest.

“This development addresses one of our key objectives – to reduce inequalities. It will be useful to review what a difference this initiative has made, at a future date.”

Wycombe MP Paul Goodman also praised the initiative. He said: "Automatic defibrillators save lives.  They're invaluable in places such as the Hambleden Valley from which medical vehicles may be inaccessible speedily.  “Those involved in the programme locally should be congratulated for their work in getting the programme up and running.”

The campaign was also backed by The Resuscitation Council and South Central Ambulance Service.

Cllr Walker added that it will assist SCAS, which has struggled to meet its targets, and will compliment a scheme it already runs called Community First Responders (CFR) where volunteers are trained to treat patients for a range of emergency conditions.