I was delighted to visit the two-day Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) event at the Old Swinford Hospital School organised by Peter Teale.
This is a fantastic national initiative that scans young people for heart defects after one took place in Stourbridge over the weekend.
Peter lost his daughter Zoe to sudden adult death syndrome at the age of 23. She died in her sleep but had no previous symptoms or any warning of what would happen.
Peter learned that a simple ECG scan could detect any early symptoms and allow for early treatment that may save lives.
The Stourbridge screening event was only the second to take place in the West Midlands following one in Dudley in 2019.
Over 200 young adults between 14 and 35 attended over the weekend. All the results will be overseen by Professor Sanjay Sharma, a consultant cardiologist involved with the charity.
I was very impressed with this event which could well be a life saver for some young people and I support CRY and the magnificent work it is doing in this important area.
It is a sobering statistic that at least 12 young adults die in the UK every week of undiagnosed heart conditions.
CRY would like heart screenings to be routinely given to young adults, something that happens in Italy and deaths there have fallen as a result.
I certainly do believe this should be looked into and I will be writing to the Department of Health and Social Care asking it to look at this as an option.
