Will Quince MP, Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care, met with campaigner Naomi Issitt to discuss urgent care in Rugby & the importance of publicly accessible defibrillators.
The OurJay campaign has won the support of Health Minister Will Quince MP after Rugby MP Mark Pawsey invited him to meet with Naomi Issitt during his recent visit to Rugby.
At the meeting with Naomi, Chair of the OurJay Foundation, her partner Jeremy and Naomi’s mother Karen as well as local councillors Yousef Dahmash and Simon Ward, the Minister heard directly from Naomi about how the tragic death of Jamie on New Years Day 2022 has inspired the Foundation which has now installed over 60 defibrillators around Rugby.
The meeting followed the Minister’s visit to the Hospital of St Cross, where he met with staff at the Urgent Treatment Centre and spoke to them about the opportunities to improve the urgent and emergency care provision in Rugby – an issue which both Mark and Naomi have been campaigning on. 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.
Minister Will Quince was also shown one of the OurJay defibrillators which has been installed at Mark’s constituency office in the town centre – one of the many which have been installed in Rugby in Jamie’s memory, and which have already saved five lives by providing 24/7 accessible defibrillators across the area, helping to make Rugby one of the most “heart safe” towns in the world.
Speaking after the visit, Mark commented:
“The work that Naomi and her family have done following their tragic loss is nothing short of inspirational. That is why I wanted to introduce the Minister to Naomi, so that he could hear first hand about the importance of improving urgent and emergency care here in Rugby as our town grows. I was particularly pleased to have her support, and the Minister’s support, for introducing doctor-led provision at the Hospital of St Cross, which would enable a greater range of treatment to be provided locally. I will of course be continuing to make this case in the strongest possible terms to both my colleagues in Government and to the local health services, and continuing to support the work which Naomi and the OurJay Foundation are doing.”
Naomi Issitt, founder of OurJay and Jamie’s mother added:
“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. 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.”