25/09/2025
The RescQ app has been developed to help First Aiders and bystanders who provide CPR or witness cardiac arrest in the community.
RescQ, the UK’s first app for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA bystanders), has launched!
Led by our Essex CTC, it offers vital support for people left traumatised after seeing someone suffer a cardiac arrest. In its first week since launch it has seen 18 OHCAs reported and already offered support to 22 bystanders, who have seen them happen.
There are 3,500 such cases across Essex every year, but it’s not clear how many people – often known as ‘forgotten patients’ – who may need help after seeing such an event.
Witnessing an OHCA can cause huge emotional distress and the RescQ app is designed to help family, friends, or even strangers who have had such an experience.
This UK-first is being led by the world-renowned Essex Cardiothoracic Centre (CTC) at the Trust, with other partners including East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST), Essex & Herts Air Ambulance, East Anglian Air Ambulance and Sudden Cardiac Arrest UK. Dr Uzma Sajjad, Cardiology Research Fellow at the Essex CTC, who is also operational lead for the project, said: “There are currently limited resources in the UK to support who witness an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, a group we call ‘forgotten patients’.
“This new app aims to bridge that gap by providing essential information and support by signposting to a dedicated website, helping rescuers and those who see such cardiac arrests process their experience and find the reassurance and support they need.”
The app will be used by EEAST land crews to document incident details, including the number of OHCA witnesses present and their relationship to the patient—whether they were acquaintances, family members, or strangers.
