AN OSWESTRY police officer has praised the quick reaction of members of the public who gave CPR to a collapsed man in the town centre on Thursday.

Jason Tierney was one of the first police officers on the scene after a man collapsed with a cardiac arrest in English Walls at 11.56am.

The man is now in stable condition after being taken by air ambulance to Royal Stoke Hospital.

On police arrival, a member of the public was already in process of CPR as the male was still unresponsive.

PC Tierney was keen to thank the members of public for their rapid response, and praised their reaction to the situation.

He said: “Officers from Oswestry Response and Oswestry Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT) would like to pass on our thanks to the members of the public for their swift actions and assistance given to officers during the incident.

“We have spoken to a number of people who were at the scene at the time and have spoken to the CCTV operators, and you see the male stagger and fall to the ground.

“People came out of Day Lewis Pharmacy and started CPR as soon as possible, which is absolutely vital.

“The staff there will have had in-house training and it proved to be vital.

“You can see driving through town the amount of investment that has gone into having defibrillators in town and members of the public can attend CPR training with a community team which offers that.

“There’s nothing better than having the training, because it then prepares you for a situation in which you may need it.”

Police officers arrived at the scene within one minute of a call regarding the incident, and the police defibrillator was immediately used by officers who continued with CPR for more than 12 minutes.

West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) then arrived to assist, by which time the male was breathing unaided.

As well as the prompt public reaction, PC Tierney also highlighted the importance of having access to a defibrillator which helped the man to resume breathing.

He said: “The UK survival rate for anyone who requires CPR is around eight per cent – but when you use a defibrillator, it increases to 32 per cent.

“While the odds are still against us in that situation, it still makes a really big difference.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, having the defibrillator made a huge difference.

“We received a call at 11.56am and the first officer was on the scene within one minute of the call, and the defibrillator was in shock within three minutes.

“So within a matter of minutes, we had a number of officers taking over CPR from the members of the public.

“By the time the ambulance had turned up, he was breathing unaided and we had put him into the recovery position.”

PC Tierney also thanked his colleagues who were at the scene, including Oswestry SNT.

He added: “It goes to show how well agencies can work together – we were alerted of the situation by a local PCSO.

“The members of public played their part, as did we, WMAS and the Midlands Air Ambulance which landed in Cae Glas Park.

“It was a real team effort from everyone who was there.”

The Midlands Air Ambulance Charity operates and funds three air ambulances covering six Midlands counties including Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands.

The charity does not receive funding from the Government or National Lottery for its daily missions so relies entirely on the support and generosity of local people and businesses.

To find out more, visit https://www.midlandsairambulance.com/