Drones could save heart attack victims

Defibrillator-carrying drones promise to boost survival chances for people suffering cardiac arrests after a study found that they could reach patients four times faster than an ambulance.

The fully automated eight-rota machines can race unimpeded by traffic at up to 50mph and deliver a heart-starting kit to critically ill patients. The technology should enable more NHS emergency units to meet the eight-minute response target, which has slipped badly in recent years.

In the trial, run by the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, drones responded to 18 simulated cardiac arrests within a six-mile radius of their base, beating the ambulance every time.