East Midlands Ambulance Service to Deploy LUCAS 2 Mechanical CPR Devices

Deployment of 40 devices across fast response cars, a key component of Trust’s future cardiac arrest strategy 

Physio-Control, the world leader in emergency medical response technologies, today announced that following an extensive clinical review and tender process the East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) is the first ambulance service trust in the UK to implement a large scale deployment of the LUCAS® 2 mechanical chest compression system.

EMAS has installed 40 LUCAS 2 Mechanical Chest Compression systems in fast response cars operating in a variety of locations across the East Midlands.

LUCAS is designed to maintain life-sustaining blood circulation to the brain and heart and to help improve a patient’s chance for a successful outcome1,2  as well as improve operations for medical responders. Performing at least 100 compressions per minute with a depth of two inches, as recommended in the European and UK Resuscitation Council guidelines, LUCAS can be deployed quickly with minimal interruption to clinical care. 

“Improving response and survival rates and patient care are just three of our priorities. As part of a systematic review of our cardiac arrest strategy and a goal to maximize hands-on CPR time the trust assembled a team to assess a mechanical CPR solution for our vehicles,” said Andy Swinburn, Consultant Paramedic at EMAS. “With LUCAS 2 we were particularly impressed by the available clinical data on supporting significantly reduced hands-off time and the associated enhanced coronary and cerebral perfusion pressures,” he added.

As part of the tender process, EMAS spoke with a number of other Physio-Control customers already using or trialling LUCAS2 in the out-of-hospital environment, emergency departments and catheter laboratories.  Another consideration for choosing LUCAS 2 was the ease and speed with which the device can be deployed.

“LUCAS2 is straightforward to use, from attaching the device to a patient, the ability to recharge while in use to the ease with which disposables can be replaced.  As part of their solution, Physio-Control also put forward a strong support, service and training component, which will help us as an organization align to our cardiac arrest strategy,” continued Andy Swinburn.

“Ambulance Trusts in the UK are always under pressure to improve their response times and increase survival rates often on a restricted budget,” said Tony Holmes, UK country manager, Physio-Control. “We’re delighted that EMAS has selected our LUCAS 2 solution to be an integral part of their future cardiac strategy. It is a proven, cost-efficient and innovative solution through which we hope they will quickly see a positive impact both operationally and more importantly on patient outcomes,” he added.  

The LUCAS 2 provides several additional benefits to resuscitation care:

• Frees rescuers to provide other life-saving therapies without the limitations or difficulties of manual cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)


• Standardizes the quality of chest compressions while adhering to the European Resuscitation Council  Guidelines for CPR depth, rate and recoil


• Allows for effective CPR during patient transportation, while improving rescuer safety


• Can provide life-sustaining circulation in the catheterization laboratory during procedures to reopen blocked coronary arteries

LUCAS 2 photo available: Here