Critically ill patients in Scotland are set to benefit from new smart defibrillators that record their vital signs and can ‘send’ that data directly to hospitals ahead of their arrival.

The new devices, which are currently being installed in all Scottish Ambulance Service Accident and Emergency response vehicles, are more reliable and enable transfer of patient data from some of the most remote parts of Scotland to a receiving hospital.

Thanks to the £25m project, the Scottish Ambulance Service plan to fit 550 blue light vehicles with the new technology by the end of March 2020.

SAS medical director Jim Ward said: “Fitting our ambulances with these new defibrillators puts Scotland at the cutting edge of this new technology, so we are delighted patients are going to benefit from it.

“The new devices essentially do the same key job of helping to restart a patient’s heart – in addition they also automatically record a patient’s vital signs, freeing the ambulance crew from recording this data manually and enabling them to give more focus to patients.”

The new Corpuls3devices will automatically pass data such as how many shocks a patient has received and changes in heart rate into the care record. Paramedics and technicians will also be able to easily record what drugs they have administered.