ROMSEY school has scooped a top national accolade for helping save cardiac arrest victims’ lives.

Mountbatten School won the Heart Safe Life Saver of the Year Award for its work in getting schools to install automated external defibrillators on their premises.

It followed an incident at Mountbatten School in March when 16-year-old pupil Sam Mangoro went into cardiac arrest and his life was saved by quick- thinking staff who administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

The award was given by the Hand on Heart charity at a ceremony held in Manchester’s Radisson Blu Hotel.

Hand on Heart says that without the defibrillator at Mountbatten School it could have been a very different story.

Lyn Lovell and Janet Barratt, attended the ceremony on behalf of the school.

Lyn said: “Having the defibrillator within our school actually saved Sam’s life, along with the quick-thinking actions of our staff. Since the incident we have installed more defibrillators and are now working to encourage schools in our local community to install them, in the hope we save more young lives.

Hand on Heart plans to install defibrillators in schools across the UK and so far has funded 400 packages of the life-saving equipment in various schools.

Francesca Wilson from Hand on Heart said: “Cardiac arrest claims the lives of 270 children at school per year and this is why Hand on Heart works tirelessly to raise awareness of this deadly killer. Children are at high risk of cardiac arrest and any excess strain can trigger an attack. The only definitive treatment for a victim of cardiac arrest is CPR and the use of an automated external defibrillator which must be administered within three to five minutes following an arrest.”

Officials at the British Heart Foundation have revealed that less than half of adults in south-east England which includes Hampshire have had CPR training.

The charity has now launched a regional campaign urging schools, community groups, businesses and individuals to learn how to perform CPR.

British Heart Foundation boss Simon Gillespie said: “Too many lives are lost needlessly because people don’t have the basic CPR skills to act in life-threatening situations.

“We need every school, workplace, community group and individual in the South East to join our campaign to creature a nation of life savers and help make the UK a safer place to live.”