A pioneering project aims to screen 1,000 children in the Western Isles of Scotland to spot potentially fatal heart defects early.
The programme, to be carried out by Cardiac Risk in the Young, will be the first attempt to identify heart defects in children who have shown no evidence of ill health. Hundreds of young people die unexpectedly of heart defects every year, according to the charity’s chief executive, Alison Cox. ‘We believe there are four deaths a week in Britain and that a lot of them could be prevented,’ she said.