Brentford FC has announced that London Ambulance Service (LAS) and London Ambulance Charity have joined the Heart of West London (HoWL) partnership.

The partnership will see LAS join Brentford FC, Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Charity, Cardiac Risk in the Young, Resuscitation Council UK and A-K-A Day in the push to improve heart health locally.

Through football, the partners will fund medical research, promote life-saving CPR skills, organise more heart screenings and offer support to those affected by cardiac issues. 

LAS provide emergency response to 999 calls for those with serious or life-threatening injuries. It also manages the Emergency Bed Service, a bed-finding system that helps make arrangements for seriously ill patients.

The club say LAS has been actively working in the cardiac health space, launching the London Lifesavers programme, funded by the Charity, which provides free CPR and defibrillator training to those who sign up for the initiative.

The programme has also committed to training a generation of year eight school children free of charge.

Thanks to new research conducted by LAS, it has been found that 21 neighbourhoods around London have no access to a defibrillator, while another 129 neighbourhoods have limited access.

This has informed the launch of London Ambulance Charity's London Heart Starters campaign.

LAS and the Charity are pushing for Londoners to do three things to assist in improving these figures:

1. Businesses and community groups to consider buying and hosting a defibrillator.
2. For people to register themselves to become a London Lifesaver and receive training in CPR and how to use a defibrillator.
3. Londoners to support fundraising efforts by taking part in LAS' first ever sponsored walk - London Life Hike.

Nity Raj, General Counsel at Brentford FC, said: "We are thrilled to be able to partner with London Ambulance Service and its dedicated NHS Charity, and look forward to continuing to raise awareness and funds around cardiac health.

"London Ambulance Service, London Ambulance Charity and everyone involved in the Heart of West London project has been doing amazing work in the cardiac health space and we look forward to assisting them in their push to improve cardiac arrest survival rates.

Speaking on the partnership, Jessica Burgess, Head of Charity for London Ambulance Charity echoed Raj's sentiment: "With the great work that we and Heart of West London have been undertaking in this space, it is great to create this partnership to continue to try and improve cardiac arrest survival rates throughout London.

"Our research has found there is a lot of work to do to ensure our communities have access to defibrillators and we look forward to working with Heart of West London to achieve that."

LAS joining the Heart of West London initiative comes as Brentford recently celebrated two years since the launch of the programme.

To find out more about Brentford's Heart of West London, click here.